toboggan

1. (Canada, US) A similar sled of wood, pulled by dogs, possibly with steel runners, made to transport cargo.Examples: "The old toboggan has been laid aside, and sleighs or waggons dash along the streets."; "These animals are harnessed by a padded collar to a light flat sleigh, of skins stretched across a frame of thin wood, called a toboggan."; "The steer dog next to the sleigh prevents this by immediately leading off at a sixty-degree angle from the direction the others are going, thereby compensating for the sidewise stress and keeping the toboggan in the clear until the bend has been passed."Synonyms: sledge, cariole, carrioleCanadaUS

2. (figurative) Something which, once it starts going (figuratively) downhill, is unstoppable until it reaches the bottom.Examples: "McGinnity began to hit the toboggan in 1906, after he had pitched his arm off the previous year. Last season his efforts at times were painful."; "If we were to hit the toboggan of a depression, wages would drop."; "Farming was on “the toboggan.” New settlers who had purchased land could not meet their deferred payments."figuratively

3. (Southern US, especially South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia) A knit cap, designed to provide warmth in cold weather.Examples: "Suppose we wish to make a pointed cap, such as used to be known as a toboggan cap, from yarn or worsted."; "Sissy bounded back in dressed in a heavy sweater and toboggan."; "If you must adorn your dog with a hat, go with a toboggan-style hat. If It was good enough for Snoopy, It Is definitely good enough for your dog."Synonyms: watch cap, beanie, tuqueSouthern-USVirginiaWest