Meaning of Canuck | Babel Free

Definitions

1. A Canadian person; specifically (archaic), a French Canadian person; a pea-souper; also (obsolete) a Canadian person of other non-English descent.
   Canada, US, derogatory, informal, sometimes
2. Synonym of Canadian French (“the French language as spoken by Francophones in Canada”).
   historical, rare
3. A member of the Vancouver Canucks professional ice hockey team belonging to the National Hockey League.
   Canada, US, derogatory, informal, sometimes
4. Synonym of Canadian English (“the variety of the English language used in Canada”).
   slang
5. Chiefly as Crazy Canuck: a member of the Canadian alpine ski team.
   Canada, US, derogatory, informal, sometimes
6. A thing from Canada.
   rare
7. The Avro Canada CF-100 fighter-interceptor aircraft, in use between 1952 and 1981.
   historical, rare
8. A Canadian horse or pony.
   US, obsolete, rare

Examples

“Canadians are somewhat jealous of the Americans; that they are secretly manœuvering, not exactly with the inoffensive good humor of a much respected yeoman of England, […] but rather after the inordinate example of Ahab of old, so pithily recorded by the sacred historian. Jonathan distinguishes a Dutch or French Canadian, by the term Kanuk.”

“We saw a few partridges: we also met a lusty fellow in a forest road with a keg of whisky slung round him, who called to us 'Come boys and have some grog, I'm what you call a canuck:' a (Canadian).”

“It is a pity these Canadian militiamen spoilt the good work they had done by never-failing bluster. But for pure and unadulterated brag I will back the lower-class Canuck against the world. The Yankee is a very sucking dove compared to his northern neighbour.”

“[T]he Canucks were ready with bats, hands, feet and heads, to outplay the locals at all points. They did it to a nicety. It is wonderful to contemplate the quality of ball speiled by the Canucks when their lungs are filled with Rochester air.”

“He's got a Canuck a-workin' for him, and I'd livser trust a wolf 'n one o' them pea-soupers.”

“The new-comers were a couple of farmers from Minnesota, genuine Americans from birth; wise men, with a keg of good water in their waggon. "And don't you want to be Americans any longer?" I asked. "No," said they most emphatically, "we're Canucks now."”

“One person who realizes that the Canadian troops in England have healthy appetites is Corp. J. R. Johnstone, chief butcher of a unit. He and his 16 assistants drag from huge refrigerators eight tons of meat per day for the hungry Canucks; and every other day when rationing is less severe the butchers carve up 16 tons of lamb, beef and pork.”

“The Scottish skip [Alex F. Torrance] missed a wide open takeout in the fifth leaving the Canucks another single.”

“[Jack] Kerouac's writings reveal that, although celebrated as an iconic American, he thought of himself as first and foremost Canadian. In La Vie est d'Hommage, he writes, "I am French Canadian. When I am angry, I often swear in French; when I dream, I often dream in French." He went on to say that "all my knowledge comes from my being French Canadian.” But as a Canuck in the United States, he felt patronized. He needed to hide his true self. Even with his friends in New York, with Allen Ginsberg and William Burroughs, he was "a completely different man. We have to live in English, it's impossible to live in French. This is the secret thought of the Canuck in America."”

“Wha'll buy my caller herrin'? / Cod, turbot, ling, delicious farin', / Buy my caller herrin', / They're every one Kanucks!”

“I'll sit here and blow till he comes round with his old go-cart, and then I'll hang on to the tail of it, and try legs with that little Kanuck of his.”

“Forty years ago the States south of the French part of Canada procured a large number of horses from that country. These were popularly called "Canucks," and were distinguished from the horses of the country by strongly marked characteristics. […] The Canuck was thoroughly a Norman horse in all respects except size, though having more strength in proportion to size and more spirit, […] Canucks in general had excessive knee action, and were natural trotters or pacers, were not built for galloping, and not inclined to take that gait; […]”

“"Oh, monsieur, monsieur, ayez pitie de moi; je suis honnète et vous paierai dix fois autant." / "You blasted scoundrel that you are, I want none of your impertinence and Canuck lingo; go hunt up your dirty trash of hungry humbugs, that you shouldered upon me last evening.[…]"”

“On the deacon-seat in the leapin' heat / With the corn-cobs drawin' cool and sweet, / And timin' the fiddle with tunkin' feet, / A hundred men and a chorus. / "Roule, roulant, ma boule roulant," / It 's all Canuck but a good old song; / Lift it up then, good and strong, / For a cozy night 's before us.”

“So Mama will say, Bon jour, Grack, tu viens enfin? That's Canuck for you ain't been a son to your ma. Can't you see by my skin and bones—I'm sick, I got a habit—I ain't my mama's anymore?”

“"It is one ver' gran' night," I said in my dialect of the rude Canuck; for I did not wish him, or any one, to know me.”

CEFR level