Landwash defined in Newfoundland vernacular as noted in this excerpt from the Online version of the Dictionary of Newfoundland English.
landwash n also lamwash* by assimilation, lan' awash* [phonetics unavailable]. Cp OED land sb 12 (1891 quot), wash sb 7, 7 b. The sea-shore between high and low tide marks, washed by the sea; occas the shore of a pond or river; foreshore. Also attrib. [1770] 1792 CARTWRIGHT i, 48-9 They had tailed a trap on the landwash at the head of Niger Sound. 1792 ibid Gloss i, xii ~ That part of the shore which is within the reach of the water in heavy gales of wind. 1792 PULLING MS Aug We saw the tracks of Indians in the snow on an island in the brook. But a short time after we saw a great many Indians in the landwash where they had some skins spread. They went to their wigwams which were a very little way from the side of the brook. [c1830] 1890 GOSSE 41 ... coming up from the 'landwash' with a 'turn' of sand for her mother's kitchen floor. 1842 JUKES ii, 37 ~ This term is always used in Newfoundland for the margin of the sea, meaning that strip of land washed by the water. 1861 DE BOILIEU 34 On a clear day, when there is a light ripple on the beach, you may see thousands of these beautiful small female fishes swimming towards the shore or landwash, each accompanied by two males, one on each side of her; nearing the sand, the males press against the female, when the spawn is rapidly deposited. [1862] 1975 WHITELEY 135 [The Mountaineer indians] 'come out to landwash' for the purpose of trafficking their furs. 1887 Telegram Christmas No 5 ... and that strange silence, broken only by the sound of the aurora borealis flashing through the still night air, or the ice cracking in the landwash, settles down over the scene. 1895 GRENFELL 81 Often the winter's diet that can be laid in is all too small for the needs of the family; and before the breaking up of the ice once more allows cod-fishing to commence, and the planters to return from Newfoundland, the poor Livyeres are reduced to living on 'the landwash.' 1921 Evening Telegram 20 July, p. 4 Last evening boys playing in the landwash at low tide discovered six kegs containing about 50 gallons of rum under a premises in the West End of the city. T 436-64 He was always goin' down round the landwash, you know, an' he used to bring up all kinds o' old stuff what was no use for nothing. 1967 FIRESTONE 7 When travelling the wood paths on foot when the ice is gone you skirt the shorelines of the ponds [landwashes] to return to where the path goes overland between the little lakes. C 68-3 Don't go down landwash, or the mermaids will get you! C 71-122 My mother would always warn us when we were kids to stay away from the landowash because we might get drowned. 1977 RUSSELL 29 They started to run their lines from the landwash road and by dinnertime when they knocked off for a mug-up they were just disappearin' over the brow of the hill. 1979 POTTLE 2 The people, who for generations saw their politics no farther afield than the 'landwash'...
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Sourced from the above noted website on October 17, 2009
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