travois

Etymology

PIE word *tréyes 1910 photograph of a Native American man with a horse-drawn travois (sense 1).]] The noun is derived from Michif travawy (IPA⁽ᵏᵉʸ⁾: /tɹæˈvɔɪ/), from Canadian French travail (“travois”), from French travail, from Middle French travail, from Old French travail (“frame for restraining horses and cattle for medical treatment or shoeing”), from Late Latin tripālium (“torture device consisting of three stakes”), from Latin tripālis (“having, or propped up by, three pales or stakes”) (from tri- (prefix meaning ‘three’) + pālus (“pale, stake”)) + -ium (suffix forming nouns). The spelling travois and pronunciations /ˈtɹævwɑ(ː)/, /tɹævˈwɑ/ are probably influenced by French -ois (suffix forming adjectives relating to particular countries, regions, or cities, their associated inhabitant names, and the local languages or dialects). The verb is derived from the noun.

noun

1. (originally and chiefly Canada, US, historical) A frame, often consisting of two poles tied together at one end to form a V-shaped structure with the vertex attached to a dog, horse, etc., or held by a person and the other ends touching the ground, which was used by indigenous peoples (notably the Plains Aboriginals of North America) to drag loads over land.
   On the plains they will have horses dragging travoises, dogs with travoises, women and children loaded with impedimenta, […] 1892, Julian Ralph, “‘Talking Musquash’: Concluding the Sketch of the History and Work of the Hudson Bay Company”, in On Canada’s Frontier[…], New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers,[…], →OCLC, pages 236–237
2. (by extension)
   1. A similar piece of equipment used to transport something by dragging; especially a stretcher dragged by a horse, mule, etc., used to transport an ill or injured person.
   2. (Canada, US, forestry, archaic) A sled dragged by a horse or ox to transport logs, with one end of each log on the sled and the other end touching the ground.

verb

1. (transitive) To transport (someone or something) by means of a travois.
2. (intransitive, rare) To use a travois to transport a load.