sloyd, n.
(slɔɪd)
Also slöijd, slöjd, slojd, sloid.
[ad. Sw. slöjd, corresponding to ON. slœ́gð, whence sleight n.1]
A system of manual instruction or training in elementary woodwork, etc., originally developed and taught in Sweden.
The verb sloyd (slöjd, etc.), and the ns. sloyder, sloydist, have also been occasionally employed.
| α 1884 [see fad n.2 1]. 1885 Pract. Teacher Oct. 357/2 Slöjd. A Short Description of a System of Handiwork taught in many Elementary Schools in Sweden. 1888 Encycl. Brit. XXIII. 107/2 In Sweden ‘slojd’, or elementary woodwork,..is taught with considerable success to children of both sexes. |
| β 1886 Pall Mall G. 21 Sept. 14/1 ‘Sloyd’..aims at establishing handicraft as one of the subjects generally taught in schools. 1893 Athenæum 8 Apr. 437/3 Sloyd..is by no means the same as carpentry; tools, objects, methods, are different in the two pursuits. |
| attrib. 1885 Pract. Teacher Oct. 358/2 [We] spent a week in Stockholm, visiting nearly every Slöjd school there. 1886 Pall Mall G. 21 Sept. 14/1 The kindergarten system of Fröbel may be regarded as the precursor of the Sloyd movement. |