▪ I. sled, n.1 Now chiefly dial. and U.S.
(slɛd)
Also 4–7 sledde, 5–7 sledd.
[a. MFlem. or MLG. sledde (= MHG. slitte, G. schlitten), related to slede slead n.]
1. a. A drag used for the transport of heavy goods, etc., = sledge n.2 2.
| 1388 Wyclif 1 Chron. xx. 3 He..made breris,.. and sleddis, and irone charis, to passe on hem. c 1400 Mandeville F viij, They cary theyr vytayles vpon the yce on sleddes. c 1450 St. Cuthbert (Surtees) 6001 On a sledd it sulde be layde. 1535 Coverdale 2 Sam. xxiv. 22 There is an oxe for a burnt offerynge, and sleddes. 1573 Tusser Husb. (1878) 37 A sled for a plough, and another for blocks. 1601 Holland Pliny II. 573 Some write, that Satyrus..conueied it to Alexandria by means of flat bottoms or sleds. 1677 A. Yarranton Eng. Improv. 68 Fetching the Water being ready filled in Copper Tubs upon Sleds. 1726 Leoni Alberti's Archit. I. 42/1 Of Stones..some are big and unweildy, so that a Man..cannot manage them..without the assistance of Sleds. 1808 Pike Sources Mississ. i. 62 Those sleds are made of a single plank turned up at one end.., and the baggage is lashed on in bags and sacks. 1887 Cox Cycl. Common Things (ed. 6) 542 In Canada the Indians make a kind of sled which they call a ‘toboggan’. |
† b. Used for dragging condemned persons to execution. Obs.
| 1576 Foxe A. & M. (ed. 3) 1901/2 He was layde vpon a Sled with an Hurdle on it, and drawen to the place of execution. 1655 W. Gurnall Chr. in Arm. ix. §1 (1669) 268/1 If..he should meet some of his fellow-Traytors on sleds, as they are dragging..to execution. 1667 L. Stucley Gospel-Glass xii. (1670) 107 How many have you seen drawn on Sleds, led to shameful and violent Deaths? |
c. Any of various devices made to be towed along the sea bed.
| 1939 Sun (Baltimore) 25 Jan. 3/4 As the sled passes over a buried cable both coils develop electric current which is wired to the mother ship above. 1967 Petroleum XXX. 158/2 The jets and suction dredge are mounted on a sled lowered from a frame at the stern of the vessel and straddle the pipe, along which they move as the barge proceeds. 1978 Nature 9 Mar. 156/2 This hypothesis is consistent with..the detection of a large 3He excess in a ‘thermal plume’ (thermal anomaly ∼0.1°C, sampled using a deep-tow sled) over the Galapagos Spreading Centre. |
2. a. A sledge or sleigh used as a vehicle in travelling or for recreation.
| 1586 Marlowe 1st Pt. Tamburl. i. ii, With milke-white Hartes vpon an Iuorie sled Thou shalt be drawen. 1613 Purchas Pilgrimage iv. xvii. 431 He departed with Russes and Permacks for Slebotca in a sledde drawne with two deare. 1667 Lond. Gaz. No. 124/2 On Monday last their Imperial Majesties had their divertisements upon the Ice, attended by 76 Sleds. 1726–46 Thomson Winter 773 Eager, on rapid sleds, Their vigorous youth, in bold contention, wheel The long resounding course. 1756 Nugent Gr. Tour, Netherl. I. 89 There is a greater number of sleds, which are a heavy unpleasant carriage, and fit for none but old women. 1857 B. Taylor North. Trav. viii. 75 The postilions fastened our sleds behind their own large sledges, with flat runners, which got through the snow more easily than ours. 1873 ‘Susan Coolidge’ What Katy did at Sch. x. 168 To help him to get down his sled, because he thinks it is going to snow. |
b. Also rocket sled. A rocket-propelled vehicle running on rails for subjecting things to controlled high accelerations and decelerations.
| 1948 Richmond (Va.) Times-Dispatch 13 Jan. 9 The rocket-powered sleds moved over a standard-gauge rail⁓road track.., covering the 2,000 feet in less than two seconds. 1956 L. Mallan Men, Rockets & Space vi. 84 When he decelerated from 421 m.p.h. on the new sled, he reached a peak of only 22 G's. 1967 Technology Week 20 Feb. 18/1 Feasibility of a new segmented solid rocket sled motor designed for multiple re-use in sled testing has been shown in recent tests. 1974 Encycl. Brit. Macropædia XV. 942/1 Braking is accomplished by a parachute or, more often, by extending a scoop beneath the sled into a trough of water beneath the track rails. |
3. Rope-making. (See sledge n.2 3.)
| 1875 Knight Dict. Mech. 364/1 As the yarns are twisted into a strand they become shorter and draw the sled towards the head of the walk. |
4. U.S. A kind of river-boat used on the Ohio.
| 1884 Harper's Mag. June 124/2 Of smaller vessels there were ‘covered sleds’, ‘ferry flats’, and ‘Alleghany skiffs’. |
5. attrib. and Comb., as sled-car, sled-dog (N. Amer.), sled-load, sled-man, sled-mark, sled-runner, etc.; also sledful, as much as a sled can hold.
| c 1440 York Myst. xl, The Sledmen. a 1674 Milton Hist. Mosc. ii. Wks. 1851 VIII. 484 In whatever place they find enough of white Moss to feed thir Sled-Stags. Ibid. v. 506 Chancelor had now gon more than half his journey, when the Sled-man sent to Court meets him on the way. 1692 H. Kelsey Indian Belief in Kelsey Papers (1929) 21 Now as for a woman they do not so much mind her for they reckon she is like a Slead dog or Bitch when she is living & when she dies they think she dyes to Eternity. 1701 in Select Biog. Wodrow Society (1846) II. 489 Two sledfuls of Sand. 1729 Swift Answ. to Sev. Lett. Wks. 1841 II. 93 The turf, which is now drawn upon sled-cars with great expense. 1777 G. Cartwright Jrnl. 18 Dec. in Trans. Labrador (1792) II. 277 Finding my sled-dog lame, I defered my journey. 1805 Pike Sources Mississ. (1810) i. 53 Broke one sled runner, and were detained by other circumstances. Ibid. ii. 179 Obliged to halt and send back for the sled loads. 1857 Thoreau Maine W. (1894) 42 The solitary sled-track running far up into the..wilderness. 1868 Harper's Mag. XXXVI. 422 The sled-tender is ready to raise the huge bodies of the fallen upon his sled. 1869 Blackmore Lorna D. xiii, I followed the track on the side of the hill..where the sledd-marks are. 1914, 1966 Sled dog [see mush v.3]. 1980 Beautiful British Columbia Winter 9 (caption) Sled dogs at Atlin's Long Distance Dog Sled Race. |
▪ II. † sled, n.2 Obs.—1
[Alteration of sledge n.1]
A sledge-hammer.
| 1616 W. Browne Brit. Past. ii. iii, They haue beheld the frolicke marriners..Pitch bars of silver, and cast golden sleds. |
▪ III. sled, v. Chiefly U.S.
[f. sled n.1 Cf. MFlem. sledden in sense 2.]
1. intr. To travel in a sledge.
| 1780 A. Adams in Fam. Lett. (1876) 377 The Bay has been frozen so hard that people have walked, rode, and sledded over it to Boston. 1784 P. Oliver in T. Hutchinson's Diary II. 406 In March they sledded across the Delaware. 1910 Blackw. Mag. Nov. 586/1 We had sledded down the cobble road and got on board. |
2. trans. To convey on a sled or sleds.
| 1718 in Hist. Northfield (Mass.) (1875) 148 Each man with his team shall cart or sled wood one day yearly for Mr. Doolittle. 1852 Hawthorne Blithedale Rom. xxiv. (1885) 243 Logs..piled up square, in order to be carted or sledded away. 1857 Thoreau Maine W. (1894) 207 Some widow's thirds, from which her ancestors have sledded fuel for generations. |
3. absol. To admit of being sledded.
| 1869 Mrs. Stowe Oldtown xxxvii, P'r'aps, ef you'd jest tighten up the ropes.., the hull load would sled easier. |