toboggan
/təˈbɑːɡ.ən/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.31 in modern English
12
Scrabble Score
8
Letters
3
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A long sled without runners, with the front end curled upwards, which may be pulled across snow by a cord or used to coast down hills.
noun
A similar sled of wood, pulled by dogs, possibly with steel runners, made to transport cargo.
Canadian usage; American usage
noun
Something which, once it starts going (figuratively) downhill, is unstoppable until it reaches the bottom.
noun
A knit cap, designed to provide warmth in cold weather.
Example Sentences
- "Toboggan has not yet found its Way into the dictionaries, and there are other ways of spelling it."
- "Nothing could be more exciting and exhilarating than a slide, on sleigh or toboggan, from the lofty summit of the ice-mound or cone down to its base."
- "The “toboggan” is a light flat sleigh, used by the Canadian aborigines to bring home over the snow the spoils of the hunt."
- "The toboggan may be described as a flat plank turned up at one end."
- "A toboggan consists of two pieces of bark joined side by side and curved up at the front."
- "Every half hour or so one or the other would steal off with snowshoes and toboggan to make the round of the holes, often returning with half a dozen fish that together weighed perhaps twelve pounds, perhaps twenty-four pounds[…]"
Etymology
The noun is attested since 1829, the verb since 1846. Both derive from French tabaganne, which derives from an Algonquian word, probably Mi'kmaq tepaqan or Abenaki dabôgan, influenced by similar words in other Eastern Canadian Algonquian languages. The sense of "hat" is recorded since 1929 and is short for toboggan cap (1928), a cap suitable for wearing while tobogganing.
Origin
- Source language: French
Word Breakdown
- Root: tabaganne, -, tepaqan, dabôgan
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /təˈbɑːɡ.ən/
- British English: /təˈbɒɡ.ən/
Usage
- Canadian usage
- American usage
- Intransitive verb