- sleigh (n.)

- "vehicle mounted on runners for use on ice and snow," 1703, American and Canadian English, from Dutch slee, shortened from slede (see sled (n.)). As a verb from 1728. Related: Sleighing. Sleigh-ride is first recorded 1770; sleigh-bells is from c. 1780; they originally were used to give warning of the approach of a sleigh.