Also 7 losy. [a. Russ. лось.]
† 1. An elk. Obs.
1591. [see OLEN].
1599. Hakluyt, Voy., I. 463. An Elke or Loshe, the Red deere of the countrey.
1613. Purchas, Pilgrimage, IV. xvii. 43. They worship the Sunne, the Ollen, and the Losy and such like.
a. 1674. Milton, Hist. Mosc., ii. Wks. 1851, VIII. 482. People riding on Elks and Loshes.
2. Losh hide, leather: the untanned hide of the elk, and later of the buffalo and ox, prepared with oil; a soft buff-colored leather; wash-leather. (Cf. LASCH sb.)
1583. Carlile, in Hakluyt’s Voy. (1600), III. 184. Losshe hides, rich Furres, and other such like.
1591. G. Fletcher, Russe Commw. (Hakl. Soc.), 10. Their losh or buffe hide is very faire and large.
1662. Irish Stat. (1765), II. 409. Losh hides, the piece £1.
1756. Gentl. Mag., XXVI. 61. Losh, or buff-leather, drest in oil.
1852. Morfit, Tanning & Currying (1853), 433. Oiled leather is commonly known as … wash-leather…. It is also called losh leather.
1864. Craig, Suppl., Losh-hide, a hide not dressed in any way, but simply oiled.
