mukluk

Contents

EnglishEdit

Alternative formsEdit

• mackaluck, muck-a-luck, muckluck, muck-luck, muckluk, mucluc, muklek

EtymologyEdit

Borrowing from Central Siberian Yupik [script needed] (maklak, “bearded seal”), referring to sealskin used to make boots.

PronunciationEdit

• IPA^(key): /ˈmʌklʌk/

NounEdit

mukluk (plural mukluks)

1. (Canada, US) A soft knee-high boot of sealskin or reindeer skin, originally worn by Inuit and Yupik.
   • 1898, Medicine Hat News, December 8, p 5:

     Her parkee, made of Caribou, it is a lovely fit, / And she's all right from muck-a-luck unto her dainty mit. / This lovely Klooch is fond of Hooch, and makes it very well.

2. (Canada, US) A laced winter boot resembling a traditional mukluk, with thick rubber sole and cloth upper.
   • 1966, Kingston Whig-Standard, April 27, p 26:

     [...] the Canadians’ [soldiers’] mukluks and sleeping bags were superior to anything in use. the mukluk, a rubber-soled boot with a calf-high outer nylon cover, has a thick woollen inner boot that keeps feet warm in the coldest of weather.

   • 2004, Paola Gianturco, Celebrating Women:

     The skin is used to make mukluks, hats, parkas. We are resourceful and respectful of the animals, the land.

SynonymsEdit

• Eskimo boot
• mukluk boot
• snowshoe, snow shoe

Derived termsEdit

• mukluked
• mukluk telegraph
• mukluk wireless

See alsoEdit

• kamik

ReferencesEdit

• “mukluk” in the Katherine Barker, editor, Canadian Oxford Dictionary, 2nd edition, Don Mills, Ont.; Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004, ISBN 978-0-19-541816-3.
• “mukluk” in the Dictionary of Canadianisms on Historical Principles, W.J. Gage, 1967.
• “mukluk”, in OED Online, Oxford: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.