Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun An Alaskan malamute.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A local name for the Eskimo dog, apparently used in Alaska.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A ancient northern breed of dog of the
husky type, particularly used as a sled dog.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun breed of sled dog developed in Alaska
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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The malamute is the Esquimau dog; and what for want of a better name is called the "Siwash" is the Indian dog.
Ten Thousand Miles with a Dog Sled A Narrative of Winter Travel in Interior Alaska Hudson Stuck 1891
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It should also be stated that the terms "malamute" and "husky" are very generally confused and often used interchangeably.
Ten Thousand Miles with a Dog Sled A Narrative of Winter Travel in Interior Alaska Hudson Stuck 1891
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This is a story about a politician acting political ... so, umm ... and? malamute
Environmental Leader Addresses Reichert Flap « PubliCola 2010
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Rufus, a malamute/shepherd mix, suddenly lost all function in his hind legs.
Suddenly paralyzed, Rufus doggedly learns to walk again 2009
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Who gives a rat's ass WHY politicians vote as long as they cast progressive votes? malamute
Environmental Leader Addresses Reichert Flap « PubliCola 2010
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Just the threat of having to face their money gets him to vote their way and in return they only have to spend a small amount of money to show their endorsement of him. malamute
Environmental Leader Addresses Reichert Flap « PubliCola 2010
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My intense 85-pound malamute-lab mix was down to a frail, passive 60 pounds.
Judith Acosta: My Dog: My Teacher In Life And Death Judith Acosta 2011
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The Saturday before Christmas 2007, Rufus, the malamute/shepherd mix I'd adopted three years earlier from the shelter, was suddenly, inexplicably paralyzed from his shoulders back.
Suddenly paralyzed, Rufus doggedly learns to walk again 2009
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My intense 85-pound malamute-lab mix was down to a frail, passive 60 pounds.
Judith Acosta: My Dog: My Teacher In Life And Death Judith Acosta 2011
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It's a robopoll, so not a lot of additional data, but a nice snapshot of the lay of the land and Craig's relative strength. malamute
Underdog Democrat Pridemore Says Polling Has Him Ahead of Party Rival Heck « PubliCola 2010
chained_bear commented on the word malamute
a.k.a. Alaskan malamute. "The malamute is a Nordic dog, descended from the Arctic wolf. Its name comes from Mahlemuts, an Alaskan tribe that raised and cared for these beautiful snow dogs.... The malamute is a sled dog." (Simon & Schuster's Guide to Dogs, 1980)
February 21, 2007
skipvia commented on the word malamute
Interestingly, this is always spelled "malemute" in print sources in Alaska. It's the mascot of one of our local high schools and the name of a popular saloon. It also appears as malemute in many place names around the state. I don't believe I have ever seen it spelled "malamute" up here.
October 14, 2007
reesetee commented on the word malamute
Maybe they're adhering more closely to the name of the tribe that originally raised the dogs?
October 14, 2007
chained_bear commented on the word malamute
"Drivers liked to work with large dogs because they often carried loads one and a half times heavier than their teams. Newfoundlands, St. Bernards, and hounds were popular imports, and they were cross-bred with the indigenous dog population. In Nome, the imports were bred with malamutes, named after the Eskimo Mahlemuit people. Over the past several hundred years, the Eskimos had used and bred their dogs to freight heavy loads for relatively short distances. When miners crossbred the Native dogs with Newfoundlands and St. Bernards, the outcome was sometimes astonishing: mutts that weighed as much as 125 pounds. The malamute nearly disappeared, yet its name lived on; miners in Nome as well as in the Interior often called their mixed-breed dogs malamutes."
--Gay Salisbury and Laney Salisbury, The Cruelest Miles: The Heroic Story of Dogs and Men in a Race against an Epidemic (NY and London: W.W. Norton & Co., 2003), 20
(In light of the comments below, it may be worth noting that the authors, though they spoke with many Alaskans and did research there, are from New York.)
January 24, 2017