21 January 2018

plew or plu

[ploo]

noun, Older Use (in Western U.S. and Canada) .

1. a beaver skin, especially one of prime quality.

Origin of plew

Canadian French

1790-1800; < Canadian French pelu; French: noun use of pelu haired, hairy (now obsolete or dial.); see poilu

Dictionary.com

Examples from the Web for plew

Historical Examples

The beaver-skins have fallen, according to their phraseology, to a ‘ plew a plug,’ and they find ‘red-skin’ pays better.
The Scalp Hunters
Mayne Reid

Them was the times when this child first went to the mountains: six dollars the plew —old’un or kitten!
In the Old West
George Frederick Ruxton

Them was the times when this child first went to the mountains: six dollars the plew —old ‘un or kitten.
Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 63, No. 392, June, 1848
Various

“Thar’s no money in beaver at a dollar a plew,” commented Hank, watching his partner out of the corner of his eye.
Bring Me His Ears
Clarence E. Mulford

Today’s quote

“The land doesn’t care who lives on it or what language they speak or whether they’re kind to each other or not. The notion that people can betray a country is an emotional conceit as abstract as the notion of “country” itself. “Country” exists only in the minds of men, the land itself is indifferent.’”

– Simone Toyne (from “The Boy Who Saw”)

On this day

21 January – Squirrel Appreciation Day.

21 January – National Hug Day.

21 January 1863 – State funeral held in Melbourne for Australian explorers, Burke and Wills, who had died in June or July of 1861. 40,000 spectators lined the streets for the funeral procession as it travelled to the Melbourne General Cemetery.

21 January 1924 – death of Vladimir Lenin, Russian communist revolutionary and political leader. He served as Russian leader from 1917 to 1924 and concurrently as Premier of the Soviet Union from 1922 to 1924. Born 22 April 1870.

21 January 1950 – death of George Orwell (born Eric Arthur Blair), Democratic Socialist and English author of works such as ‘Nineteen-Eighty Four‘, ‘Animal Farm‘, and ‘Homage to Catalonia‘. Born 25 June 1903.

21 January 1992 – death of Eddie Mabo. Campaigner for indigenous land rights in the Torres Strait. Successfully challenged the concept of ‘terra nullius‘, resulting in indigenous ownership of land in Australia to be recognised. Born 29 June 2014.