From the ArcaMax Publishing, Vocabulary Newsletter:
http://www.arcamax.com/news/vocabulary/s-41342-735124
toboggan \teh-BAH-gehn\ (noun) - A long, flat-bottomed sled without
runners made of slats curled up in front.
"With the economy tobogganing heaven knows where, Jean was convinced
that it was better to keep your money in a sock under your mattress."
Today's word may also be used as a verb signifying the use of a
toboggan, as to toboggan down a snowy hill. However, if you are in the
Southeastern US where snow is a rarity, be careful using today's word.
In the US South it more usually refers to the knitted, stretchable hat
that you might pull over your head to toboggan. You are a tobogganer
if you toboggan. Borrowed by French Canadians from an Algonquian
language. It was originally spelled tabaganne (Le Clercq 'Nouvelle
Relation de la Gaspesie,' 1691, p. 70). The word was probably borrowed
from Micmac (Lower Canada, Nova Scotia) "tobakun," a word related to
Abnaki (Quebec and Maine) "udabagan," Montaignais "utapan," Cree
"otabanask," and Ojibwe "odaban-ak."