birch bark
1
7.2
- noun
- /bɜrʧ bɑrk/
- US
:
corteza de abedul
- flimsy Indian canoes made of birch bark.
- birch bark canoe
Examples
-
It was made of stout birch bark, and its full surface rested on the snow.
Academic text (2009) -
As I peeled away each layer of the birch bark, I found more and more tokens.
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The note was written in pencil on a large, silvery square of birch bark.
Fiction book (1996) -
The craft involved dyeing and sewing porcupine quills in birch bark.
Academic text (2016) -
The Indigenous peoples of North America created a birch bark canoe to navigate their waters.
-
Traditionally, birch bark canoes were lightweight and designed for efficient travel across lakes.
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A beautifully crafted birch bark canoe can be seen displayed at the tribal museum.
Synonyms
A light boat made by covering a wooden frame with birch bark
A light canoe made by stretching birch bark over a wooden frame
Surface Forms
Morphology
Knowing 'birch' and 'bark' gives a clear, literal sense of the bark of a birch tree (a material), so part of the meaning is immediately accessible. However, identifying the phrase specifically as a type of canoe made from that bark requires cultural or usage knowledge beyond the constituent meanings, so the exact referent is not fully predictable for a B1 learner.
Etymology
Birch bark comes from a real boat made by Indigenous peoples of North America using the thin outer skin, the bark, of a birch tree. They would peel the flexible bark, sew and shape it into a light canoe, so today 'birch bark' means 'a canoe made from birch bark'.