‖ carcajou
(ˈkarkaʒu, ˈkɑːkə(d)ʒuː)
[Fr. of N. America, app. of Indian origin.]
1. A name given in N. America to the Glutton or Wolverene (Gulo luscus).
| 1703 tr. La Hontan's Voy. N. Amer. I. 62 The Holes or Dens of the Carcaioux. Ibid. 232 Carcaious, an Animal not unlike a Badger. 1744 A. Dobbs Hudson's Bay 40 The beavers have three enemies, man, otters, and the Carcajon [sic]. 1774 Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1862) I. iv. iii. 425 The glutton..in the north of Europe and Siberia, as in the northern parts of America, where it has the name of the carcajou. 1796 Morse Amer. Geog. I. 196 The Wolverene, called in Canada the Carcajou, and by hunters the Beaver eater. 1865 Ld. Milton & Cheadle N.W. Pass. vii. 103 The fur-hunter's greatest enemy is the..wolverine or carcajou. |
¶ 2. According to Littré, Webster, and the Dicts. generally, ‘The American badger (Meles Labradorica) found in the sandy plains or prairies of N. America’. (Apparently some error.) Also erroneously applied by Charlevoix to the Canadian Lynx.
| 1839 Penny Cycl. XIV. 231/1 The mistake of Charlevoix in applying to it [the Canadian Lynx] the appellation of Carcajou..has produced some confusion of synonymes amongst subsequent writers. 1866 W. R. King Sportsman & Nat. in Canada i. 16 The name ‘Carcajou’ is erroneous as applied to this animal [the Canadian Lynx]. |