galamander
Syllables: gal·a·man·derUK/ˈɡæləmændə//ˈɡæləˌmændəɹ/
galamander noun: a customized horse- or ox-drawn stoneboat or wagon once used for hauling stone from quarries, with smaller front wheels and larger rear ones, and a derrick to lift blocks of stone on and off the vehicle.
Noun
galamander (plural galamanders)
- A customized horse- or ox-drawn stoneboat or wagon once used for hauling stone from quarries, with smaller front wheels and larger rear ones, and a derrick to lift blocks of stone on and off the vehicle.
- Down at Vinalhaven, Me., which has just been celebrating its sesquicentennial, they used to use what they called a "galamander" to carry heavy stones from the granite quarries. The "galamander" is a combination stone-boat on wheels and a derrick.1939 July 10, “Odd items from everywhere”, in The Boston Globe, volume CXXXVI, number 10, Boston, Mass.: The Globe Newspaper Co., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 16, column 2
- Galamanders, drawn by oxen or horses, transported the blocks to the cutting sheds, which were usually located near the wharfs. Galamanders were elongated four-wheeled wagons equipped with derricks and the wheels of these locally made wagons were eight or nine feet in diameter. Maine galamanders are...1956 August 12, Esther E[lizabeth] Wood, “Granite quarries brought prosperity to Maine coastal areas”, in Portland Sunday Telegram and Sunday Press Herald, volume 70, number 13, Portland, Me.: Guy...
Examples of galamander in a sentence
- Galamanders, drawn by oxen or horses, transported the blocks to the cutting sheds, which were usually located near the wharfs.1956 August 12, Esther E[lizabeth] Wood, “Granite quarries brought prosperity to Maine coastal areas”, in Portland Sunday Telegram and...
- One hundred years ago, when Granite Hill was being mined, Peter Cain imagines a galamander was used to haul the stone blocks to the docks in Hallowell.1979 May 17, Martha Durrance, “Galamanders: Restoring a forgotten tool”, in Kennebec Journal, Augusta, Me.: Jean Gannett Hawley, →ISSN...
- You know this is the Galamander District?" / "So that's a galamander.1993, Elizabeth Richman, chapter 3, in Be Jubilant, My Heart! […], Nashville, Tenn.: Star Song Publishing Group, →ISBN, page 30:
- A relic of the island's quarrying days, the galamander was a massive oak and iron wagon with nine-foot rear wheels.1999, David A[rthur] Crossman, “Something Spooky”, in The Secret of the Missing Grave, Camden, Me.: Down East Books, →ISBN, page 104:
Forms of galamander
| plural | galamanders |
|---|
Origin of galamander
Unknown; said to have been coined by an American blacksmith Elder Littlefield, and possibly from galley (“type of boat”) + meander (“to turn or wind in a course or passage”).
Questions about galamander
- What does galamander mean?
- Galamander means a customized horse- or ox-drawn stoneboat or wagon once used for hauling stone from quarries, with smaller front wheels and larger rear ones, and a derrick to lift blocks of stone on and off the vehicle.
- How do you use galamander in a sentence?
- Galamanders, drawn by oxen or horses, transported the blocks to the cutting sheds, which were usually located near the wharfs.
- What part of speech is galamander?
- Galamander is a noun.
- How do you pronounce galamander?
- Galamander is pronounced /ˈɡæləmændə/ (UK).
- What is the plural of galamander?
- The plural of galamander is galamanders.
Words near galamander in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: galamander (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-us-galamander.oga.
Cite this entry: “galamander.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/galamander. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.