canoe

1. a light narrow open boat, propelled by one or more paddles

2. NZ another word for waka

Collins Discovery Encyclopedia, 1st edition © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.

Canoe

(1) A boat used by many Indian tribes of North America. Canoes were made from an entire tree trunk (hollowed out by fire and chopping), or else a frame was first constructed and later covered with bark. Canoes had symmetrically pointed bows and sterns and were of various sizes, with seating capacities ranging from two to 100 persons.

(2) A modern canoe is a paddle boat without oarlocks that is typified by a dugout-shaped hull and a paddling method using one single-bladed shovel-shaped paddle. Steering is done by twisting the paddle in the water and changing its trajectory at the end of the stroke. There are domestic general purpose canoes (for carrying loads and passengers, for hunting and fishing), touring canoes, and sport canoes (for “flat” racing on calm water and for water slalom on rough mountain streams). Canoes are classed according to production method as those hollowed out of whole tree-trunk pieces and those made by covering a frame with waterproof materials (special plywoods, skins, rubberized fabrics, synthetic coatings, and plastics).

The finest canoes are the sport canoes, which are made of polished plywood (the best being made of mahogany) or plastic material. Touring canoes are usually built for two or three persons and have collapsible frames or are inflatable. Water slalom canoes are made of fiberglass with unsinkable, airtight compartments in the bow and stern. The paddlers sit on the bottom of the canoe or on bench-type seats; in sport canoes the paddlers kneel on one knee. The number of paddlers in a canoe ranges from one to several dozen persons (from one to six in sport canoes). The dimensions, weight, and shape of sport canoes are limited by regulations. The cross-section and longitudinal lines of the hulls of these canoes must be convex and continuous. One-man canoes have a maximum length of 520 cm, a minimum width of 75 cm, and a minimum weight of 16 kg; for two-man canoes these specifications are 650 cm, 75 cm, and 20 kg, respectively; for six-man canoes they are 1, 100 cm, 85 cm, and 50 kg, respectively.

E. L. KABANOV

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

So close were the two canoes to one another that the black had only an opportunity to note the white face in the bow of the oncoming craft before the two touched and his own men were upon their feet, yelling like mad devils and thrusting their long spears at the occupants of the other canoe.

Scarcely had the two craft come together than the frightful apes of Akut rose, growling and barking, from the bottom of the canoe, and, with long, hairy arms far outstretched, grasped the menacing spears from the hands of Kaviri's warriors.

View in context

Therefore he hesitated, holding the canoe in mid stream.

The Englishman slid to the bottom of the canoe as a bullet whizzed above him.

View in context

This boat makes no stops this side of Boston!" cried Ned Newton gaily, as he got into one of the several tree canoes provided for the transportation of the party up the Chamelecon river, for the first stage of their journey into the wilds of Honduras.

View in context

"Hugh!" exclaimed Uncas, nearly at the moment that the light tap his father had made on the side of the canoe notified them of the vicinity of danger.

View in context

Mouth of the Columbia.- The Native Tribes.- Their Fishing.- Their Canoes.- Bold Navigators- Equestrian Indians and Piscatory Indians, Difference in Their Physical Organization.- Search for a Trading Site.

View in context

Sometimes the dynamite sticks went off in the air, but most of them went off in the canoes. And each time they went off in a canoe, that canoe was finished.

View in context

There was no further conversation from the ancient, and though he lived long years after, he never mentioned the midnight passenger in the canoe who carried Michael away with him.

View in context

So I went and got the bag of meal and my old saw out of the canoe, and fetched them to the house.

View in context

Marmaduke appeared to understand that all opposition to the will of the sheriff would he useless, and he strolled from the fire to the place where the canoe of the hunters lay, whither the ladies and Oliver Edwards had already preceded him.

View in context

Hundreds of canoes lay twenty deep along both sides of the Arangi, and each boy, with his box and bell, was clamoured for by scores of relatives and friends.

View in context