wanigan

American  

[won-i-guhn] / ˈwɒn ɪ gən /

Also wangan,

noun

1. a lumberjack's trunk.

2. a lumber camp's supply chest.

3. a small house on wheels or tractor treads, used as an office or shelter in temporary lumber camps.

4. (especially in Alaska and the Pacific Northwest) a lean-to or other small addition built onto a house trailer, cabin, etc.

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wanigan British  

/ ˈwɒnɪgən /

noun

1. a lumberjack's chest or box

2. a cabin, caboose or houseboat

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Etymology

Origin of wanigan

First recorded in 1840–50; from Ojibwe wa·nikka·n “pit,” derivative of wa·nikke·- “to dig a hole in the ground” from unattested Proto-Algonquian wa·θehke·- (unattested wa·θ- “hole” + -ehke·- “make”)

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

wanigan

Sind us some oakum and pitch and we'll caulk yure wanigan for ye.

From The Riverman by Stewart Edward White

Get the lanterns from the wanigan, and bring them to the dam.

From The Riverman by Stewart Edward White

Billy Camp began to worry about shooting the wanigan through the sluice-way.

From The Blazed Trail by Stewart Edward White

Only there needed to build the wanigan, and to cart in the supplies for the upper river works before the spring break-up and the almost complete disappearance of the roads.

From The Riverman by Stewart Edward White

Shortly after daylight the wanigan, pushed strongly from shore by the pike-poles, was drifting toward the chute.

From The Riverman by Stewart Edward White