[Fr. of N. America, app. of Indian origin.]
1. A name given in N. America to the Glutton or Wolverene (Gulo luscus).
1774. Goldsm., Nat. Hist. (1862), I. IV. iii. 425. The glutton … in the north of Europe and Siberia, as in the northern parts of America, where it has the name of the carcajou.
1796. Morse, Amer. Geog., I. 196. The Wolverene, called in Canada the Carcajou, and by hunters the Beaver eater.
1865. Visct. Milton & W. B. Cheadle, Northwest Passage by Land, vii. 103. The fur-hunter’s greatest enemy is the … wolverine or carcajou.
¶ 2. According to Littré, Webster, and the Dicts. generally, ‘The American badger (Meles Labradorica) found in the sandy plains or prairies of N. America.’ (Apparently some error.) Also erroneously applied by Charlevoix to the Canadian Lynx.
1839. Penny Cycl., XIV. 231/1. The mistake of Charlevoix in applying to it [the Canadian Lynx] the appellation of Carcajou … has produced some confusion of synonymes amongst subsequent writers.
1866. W. R. King, Sportsm. & Nat. in Canada, i. 16. The name ‘Carcajou’ is erroneous as applied to this animal [the Canadian Lynx].
