toboggan

play

noun to·bog·gan \ tə-ˈbä-gən \

Definition of toboggan

1 :a long flat-bottomed light sled made usually of thin boards curved up at one end with usually low handrails at the sides

2 :a downward course or a sharp decline

3 chiefly Southern US and Midland US :stocking cap

See toboggan defined for English-language learners

See toboggan defined for kids

Recent Examples of toboggan from the Web

Visitors could dance to a jazz band, spin in a Ferris wheel and ride on a water toboggan.

— john kelly, Washington Post, "Answer Man wades back into the history of area beaches and bathing beauties," 3 June 2017
There are no staples to pop out on these toboggans.

— forum news service, Twin Cities, "For this Minnesota business, going downhill proves to be good," 25 Feb. 2017
Folks have come here for decades, bringing toboggans and inner tubes and setting up chairs and snow picnics for a day of sliding, snowball fights and snowmen.

— dino vournas, The Mercury News, "Sierra skiing: Dodge Ridge is delightfully un-Tahoe," 19 Feb. 2017
For the more daring visitors, Mutianyu offers a toboggan ride to the bottom of the wall.

— mei zhang, Town & Country, "How to Plan a Trip to China," 5 Oct. 2016
The Mets have been on their own hallucinogenic toboggan ride.

— michael powell, New York Times, "San Francisco Giants," 14 Sep. 2016

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'toboggan.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Illustration of toboggan

Origin and Etymology of toboggan

Canadian French tobogan, of Algonquian origin; akin to Micmac tobâgun drag made of skin

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: circa 1820

See Words from the same year

Other Dialect Terms

bespoke, boughten, lave, muchacho, nigh, spunk, thunk

toboggan

verb

Definition of toboggan

intransitive verb

1 :to coast on or as if on a toboggan

2 :to decline suddenly and sharply

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tobogganer

noun

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tobogganist

play \-gə-nist\ noun

See toboggan defined for English-language learners

Examples of toboggan in a Sentence

The kids tobogganed down the hill.

Recent Examples of toboggan from the Web

Singer Ciara was roundly slammed for posting a photo of herself sliding down the Mutianyu Great Wall of China toboggan slide with her infant daughter.

— heidi stevens, chicagotribune.com, "Just let the guy love his curvy wife already," 8 Aug. 2017
Terry Scott Cohen, 42, enjoys roller coasters, mushing in Alaska and tobogganing in the Pyrenees Mountains.

— elaine glusac, New York Times, "For the Disabled Traveler, Strategies for a Successful Trip," 3 Feb. 2017

First Known Use of toboggan

1846

TOBOGGAN Defined for English Language Learners

toboggan

play

noun

Definition of toboggan for English Language Learners

: a long, light sled that has a curved front and that is used for sliding over snow and ice

toboggan

verb

Definition of toboggan for English Language Learners

: to ride on a toboggan especially down a hill

TOBOGGAN Defined for Kids

toboggan

play

noun to·bog·gan \ tə-ˈbä-gən \

Definition of toboggan for Students

:a long light sled made without runners and curved up at the front

History for toboggan

Toboggan, a name for a kind of sled without runners, is borrowed from the languages of American Indians living in eastern Canada and the northeast United States. In Micmac, for example, a language spoken in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Quebec, the word is tepaqan, and in Maliseet, spoken in New Brunswick, tapakon. These words go back to an older word in Algonquian, the language from which Micmac and Maliseet developed. The Micmac and Maliseet words were formed from wetapye-, “to drag with a cord” and -kan-, “implement, thing for doing something.”