snowmobile orig. N. Amer.
(ˈsnəʊməbiːl)
Also snow-mobile, snow mobile, snomobile, Snomobile.
[f. snow n. + automobile a. and n.]
Any motor vehicle designed for travelling over snow; spec. a small, light passenger vehicle supported on runners at the front and a traction chain at the rear. Also attrib.
| 1931 Times Lit. Suppl. 5 Feb. 89/1 The American expedition to the South Pole under..Admiral Byrd was.. carried out in the grand manner... It had a ‘snowmobile’; but this did not travel very far before meeting disaster on the rough surface. 1934 Canad. Patent Office Rec. 30 Oct. 2464/1 A snowmobile comprising an automobile having a pair of runners in place of the automobile front wheels, beams extending longitudinally of the automobile and rearwardly of the rear axle, a third axle mounted adjacent the rear ends of said beams, wheels forming the sole supporting means for the rear of the snowmobile journalled on said third axle, driving gears mounted on the automobile rear axle in place of the ordinary rear wheels, and traction chains connecting said wheels and driving gears. 1947 Times 8 Mar. 5/6 They [sc. the Eskimos] have seen..drums of petrol parachuted to the snowmobiles of the Canadian Army exercise ‘Musk-Ox’. 1961 Times 24 Apr. 16/6, I can..watch the teenagers race their stripped down jalopies... There are snow-mobiles and snocats. 1966 Popular Science Jan. 117 Snow really flies as this snowmobile owner takes his Larson Eagle on a long, thrilling jump. 1968 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 3 Feb. 46/4 (Advt.), Snow mobiles, demonstrator sale. 1969 Daily Tel. 11 Mar. 24/8 Organisers of a fox-hunt, mounted on snowmobiles, on a frozen lake in Minnesota have been threatened with police action. 1970 Toronto Daily Star 24 Sept. 10/4 (Advt.), Snowmobile suits on sale. 1970 Nature 29 Aug. 880/1 It is powered by..air-cooled engines originally developed for the ‘sno-mobiles’ now so popular during the Canadian winter. 1972 C. Mudie Motor Boats & Boating 82 The question of how to use your Snomobile in high summer has been met by one manufacturer who markets a float attachment and a modified propeller drive so that the basic unit quickly becomes a lakeside holiday flier. 1977 New Yorker 2 May 60/2 Dog teams have largely been replaced by snowmobiles. 1980 Harpers & Queen Jan. 79/4 Snowmobiles alone use over 117 million gallons of fuel each year in the United States. |
Hence ˈsnowmobiler, one who drives or rides upon a snowmobile; ˈsnowmobiling vbl. n., the action or sport of using a snowmobile; ˈsnowmobilist = snowmobiler.
| 1964 Star Weekly (Toronto) 19 Dec. 14/1 We'd like to see a broader approach to snowmobiling as a family-style sport. 1967 Daily Tel. 14 Mar. 21/1 This weekend, some 11,000 ‘snowmobilists’ were skimming across the snow-covered Adirondacks at speeds up to 30 mph, twice those on downhill slopes. 1968 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 13 Jan. 41/5 Snowmobilers would be well advised to obtain from the Ontario Safety League a copy of the Ten Commandments of Snowmobile Safety. 1977 Time 7 Feb. 60/2 The arduous route..led the snowmobilers along busy, narrow roads, through woods and across ditches. 1981 Northeast Woods & Waters Jan. 4/1 Years of driving and snowmobiling have prepared me and I always carry spare parts and tools and we fixed it in a jiffy. |