sleigh

See also: slèigh and Sleigh

English

Pronunciation

• enPR: slā, IPA^(key): /sleɪ/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪ
• Homophone: slay

Etymology 1

From Modern Dutch slee, from Middle Dutch slede, ultimately from Proto-Germanic *slidô. Doublet of sled and further related to slide.

Noun

sleigh (plural sleighs)

a horse-drawn sleigh

1. A vehicle, generally pulled by an animal, which moves over snow or ice on runners, used for transporting persons or goods. (contrast "sled", which is smaller)

   Santa travels in a sleigh.

   • 2023 December 27, David Turner, “Silent lines...”, in RAIL, number 999, page 29:

     In 1958, it was reported that for "the fourth year in succession, staff of four South London stations have combined to decorate the booking hall at Peckham Rye station". They installed a nativity scene, models of Father Christmas, and a sleigh driven by huskies, and Christmas trees were placed around the station.

Derived terms

• Nantucket sleigh ride
• sleigh bed
• sleigh bell

Translations

vehicle on runners — see sledge

See also

• sled
• sledge
• toboggan

Verb

sleigh (third-person singular simple present sleighs, present participle sleighing, simple past and past participle sleighed)

1. To ride or drive a sleigh.

Derived terms

• sleigher

Etymology 2

Adjective

sleigh (comparative sleigher, superlative sleighest)

1. (obsolete) Sly.

Translations

sly — see sly

Further reading

• Sleigh in the Encyclopædia Britannica (11th edition, 1911)

Anagrams

• le sigh, leighs

Irish

Noun

sleigh

1. dative singular of sleagh

Mutation

Irish mutation
Radical	Lenition	Eclipsis
sleigh	shleigh after an, tsleigh	not applicable
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

Middle English

Adjective

sleigh

1. Alternative form of sly