sb. [A broad vocalization of travày, Canadian pronunc. of French travail: see prec. So called from its analogy to the Indian travày or travail.] In lumbering, a sledge used in dragging logs; one end of the log rests on the sledge and the other trails on the ground.
1878. Lumberman’s Gaz., 2 Feb., 87. The haul at the former camp is too long to use travoys. Ibid., 9 Feb. The ‘travoy’ is kept busy on short hauls.
attrib. 1901. Munsey’s Mag., XXV. 387/1. These ‘travoy-roads’—the name comes from the French travois—have to be cleared by the ‘swampers.’ Ibid., 387/2. While the travoy road is in the process of construction.
Hence Travoy v. trans. and intr., to use a travoy, to haul (logs) by means of a travoy; whence Travoying vbl. sb.
1878. Lumberman’s Gaz., 2 Feb., 86. Travoying can be carried on to good advantage. Ibid., 87. Those who have short enough hauls to travoy are not much more than paying expenses.
1901. Munsey’s Mag., XXV. 386/1. Second, it must be ‘travoyed’ from a hundred yards to a mile; third, it is hauled on sleighs as far as fifteen or sixteen miles; fourth, it is driven down a river, and I have known drives three hundred miles in length.
