slide n DC ~ n 4 Nfld ([1665]; 1906-); cp OED 4 a 'a kind of sledge' (1685-1896), EDD 'a sledge' (1796; Nf1d: 1895), 'dray' (1858-96) for sense 1.
1 A sled with stout wooden runners curved up in front, hauled in the winter by dogs, horse or man, used esp for carting wood and other heavy loads; often with defining word DOG1, HAND, HORSE, WOOD; CATAMARAN.
1776 COUGHLAN 18 They proposed to me, to point out a Place where I would choose to build a Church, which was agreed upon; accordingly all Hands went into the Wood, and cut down as much of it as they wanted. which they hauled out upon what they call Slides. 1828 Newfoundlander 27 Feb [Death of Thomas Power who] was crushed to death by the upsetting of his slide of wood. 1846 TOCQUE 118 Men hauling wood at the time thought the sound came out of the ground immediately under the slide or sledge. 1887 Telegram Christmas No 12 In this particular they are of great service, although it is a most unusual thing to see a loaded slide coming from the woods with dogs attached, to which some man is not bound by an equally strong attachment. 1895 J A Folklore viii, 31 In Newfoundland the sled or sleigh of the Continent, the sledge of the English, is called a slide. 1900 PROWSE [Appendix] 142 Sledges, Slides, Sleighs Horse attached thereto must have person leading or driving with reins, and two good bells attached to horse's harness. 1909 Nfld Qtly Mar, p. 15 The [funeral] procession was on snow shoes. The coffin was on a slide which was drawn by four men holding the shafts. A numerous company of mourners followed behind, two and two. 1964 Evening Telegram 25 Sep, p. 18 He recalled that when Dr Harris came to Marystown, there were very few roads. Many visits to the sick took him over stormy waters in open boats and in winter a catamaran or horse and slide was the only means of conveyance. T 43/7-64 Apart from the wagon sleds now for winter work there was the slide. Well, it could be a horse slide or a hand slide. T 89-64 I got right as handy as a gunshot of the brook, an' the slide stopped, brought up, on her side. T 436-65 [We'd go] an' cut some wood in 'cross the mish, you see. an' take the ropes on our back an' drag it out with a slide on the bank.
2 A light sled on runners, or a home-made substitute, used by children in winter.
See [c1894] quot above at SLIDE v. 1902 MURPHY (ed) 77 "Granny Bates's Hill": I see the hillside white, / I see the moonlight bright, / I see the slides on Granny Bates's Hill. 1931 BYRNES 99 Sleighs with flat runners, slides with half round runners. and the humble home made affairs with runners made from pieces of tin hoop. 1971 NOSEWORTHY 244 ~ A device with two metal runners for children to coast in the snow; a sled.
3 Attrib, comb slide load: quantity of wood, etc, carried on a sled (Q 67-96).
[1900 OLIVER & BURKE] 12 "Breaking Open the Stores": As they marched up the shore / With their slide loads of hay... 1916 MURPHY 21 The old folks used the word built when speaking of a big slide load of wood. 1937 DEVINE 50 To swamp a road or path is to build one with a bedding of boughs to be used in hauling slide loads of wood in winter. 1966 FARIS 38 Many slide-loads of 'lungers'... are needed for 'bridges' and wharves... Most homes need up to 20 'slide-loads' of logs each year, each slide-load averaging 50 'turns'... of wood.
slide path: track leading to good stands of timber, made in winter by the traffic of sleds; WOODS PATH.
[1780] P 148-81 [Colonial Records] ... a slide path of 12 feet. 1906 LUMSDEN 121 This was a 'slide-path' used for hauling firewood, and had doubtless been so used in the early part of this very day. M 69-28 After the garden vegetables had been taken up and stored away, the men often took to the woods day after day, cutting piles of wood, which they would haul out later in the winter when the slide-path was good. 1971 NOSEWORTHY 244 Men would go in the woods to cut wood for the winter. The slide-paths would then be frozen and covered with snow. 1975 GUY 147 In the winter, in the woods, coming down the slide paths you would hear the bells jingling on the horses to give anyone coming along the path against them a chance to find a good place to haul off to one side.
