sloven n [phonetics unavailable]. DC ~ n (1895-); DINNEEN sleamhnán 'slide-car.' A long, low four-wheeled cart, drawn by horses and used to move heavy loads.
1896 Dial Notes i, 381 ~ a low truck wagon. 1929 BURKE [11] [advertisement] Charles F Lester... Has always for hire Horses, Slovans, Trucks and all tackles required for removing any goods—light or heavy. 1937 DEVINE 46 ~ A long, low horse cart. T 25-64 And then they had another [type of cart] that you'd only see on Water Street at St John's, called a sloven. That's a long thing with four wheels. That would be for taking particularly heavy loads. That would be a pair of horses [required]. C 66-8 These [slovens] were used for transporting heavy freight. There was a single shaft between the two horses... The name of these carts was 'slovens'. . . They disappeared, some time after 1940. The wheels were iron rimmed and there was no seat in front for the driver and his helper. 1973 Daily News I May, p. 4 At the turn of the century... Horse-drawn long carts, box carts and slovens, transported goods between the wooden finger wharves and the warehouses.
