Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A soft leather slipper traditionally worn by certain Native American peoples.
- n. Footwear resembling such a slipper.
- n. A water moccasin.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A shoe or cover for the feet, made of deerskin or other soft leather, without a stiff sole, and usually ornamented on the upper side: the shoe customarily worn by the American Indians.
- n. A venomous serpent of the United States. Ancistrodon (or Toxicophis or Trigonocephalus) piseivoras, a somewhat aquatic snake of the southern United States, resembling the copperhead, Ancistrodon contortrix, specifically called water-moccasin, sometimes
water-viper . See cut on following page.
Wiktionary
- n. A kind of shoe with low heels, with the top sides stitched upwards.
- n. A Native North American shoe made of deerskin.
- n. A light beige colour, like that of a moccasin.
- n. Any of several North American snakes of the genus Agkistrodon.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. A shoe made of deerskin, or other soft leather, the sole and upper part being one piece. It is the customary shoe worn by the American Indians.
- n. (Zoöl.) A poisonous snake of the Southern United States. The water moccasin (Ancistrodon piscivorus syn. Agkistrodon piscivorus, also called
cottonmouth andcottonmouth water moccasin ) is usually found in or near water. Above, it is olive brown, barred with black; beneath, it is brownish yellow, mottled with darker. The upland moccasin is Ancistrodon atrofuscus. They resemble rattlesnakes, but are without rattles.
WordNet 3.0
- n. soft leather shoe; originally worn by Native Americans
Etymologies
- From Powhatan mockasins, mawhcasuns (plural). (Wiktionary)
- Of Virginia Algonquian origin; akin to Powhatan mäkäsĭn, shoe, and Ojibwa makisin. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“I sent a letter out privately to be passed along by the Indians -- what they call moccasin telegraph.”
“I'm guessing that a subdued water moccasin is the best kind of water moccasin.”
“The Arapahos and Cheyennes use a "shoe" moccasin, that is, one which reaches no higher than the instep, and wants the upper sideflaps which moccasins usually have.”
“The moccasin was a little too short -- just a little.”
“At the same moment a large water-snake, of the kind known as a moccasin, glided away, and disappeared beneath the slimy bank.”
“The most common of the group, the _C. acaule_, most widely known as the moccasin-flower, whose large, nodding, pale crimson blooms we so irresistibly associate with the cool hemlock woods, will afford a good illustration.”
“The moccasin was a dangerous fellow, and he didn't want to run any risks with him.”
“If ever I saw the print of a moccasin, that is one.”
“THERE is another snake in Carolina and Florida called the moccasin, very different from this, which is a very beautiful creature, and I believe not of a distructive or vindictive nature; these when grown to their greatest size are about five feet in length, and near as thick as a man's arm; their skin scaly but smooth and shining, of a pale grey and sky colour ground, uniformly marked with transverse undulatory ringlets or blotches of a deep nut brown, edged with red or bright Spanish brown; they appear innocent, very active and swift, endeavouring to escape from one; they have no poisonous fangs.”
“It was a cottonmouth water moccasin which is one of the top five “Most Poisonous” snakes in Florida.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘moccasin’.
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Loanwords
Since English is littered with loanwords, everything could conceivably end up here. But there is a distinct feeling associated with these.. maybe they're young additions to the English language; I ...
iceberg, fjord, firth, abbey, abyss, anorak, apartheid, assassin, avalanche, avocado, balaclava, banana and 104 more...
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Gene Wolfe
Please contribute your favorite words from any of Gene Wolfe’s books to this prize-winning list.
In case you come across words in this list which are too commonplace to fit in, please ...gallipot, roost, badelaire, oblesque, execration, dhole, amschaspand, arctother, chalcedony, penitence, asimi, autarch and 839 more...
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american
'cool' words or phrases with native american origins both phonetically or meanings translated into English ..
pow-wow, Rainbow Warriors, tomahawk, mohawk, Mohican, Sioux, Husky, Apache, moccasin, pecan, shaman, squaw and 4 more...
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Vocab Words
Common words and their meanings.
Ra eh RA EH ..............whim, debilitating, grimoire, vain, morphine, shingle, muzzle, moccasin, stifle, fiend, chain of command, clandestine and 9 more...
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From the Algonquin et al.
Words derived from the innumerable languages of native Americans and the First Nations of Canada. I want to shine some light on this underexposed etymological background to so many common (and som...
raccoon, persimmon, mummichog, caucus, bayou, caribou, geoduck, chipmunk, skunk, opossum, moose, squash and 84 more...
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Canadianisms
Canuck, timbit, Timbit, inukshuk, Canadianism, spiked, hyderize, canuckistan, Canuckistan, hoser, double double, Triumf and 364 more...
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colleen's words
yellow, green, pie, blue, fur, people, incense, book, brown, avuncular, mountain, fog and 1316 more...
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Words Covered in Faery Dust (M)
words that evoke magic, mystery, mayhem, magnificence or anything else that glimmers in the grass
mace, macintosh, madras, magenta, magic 8 ball, magma, mahogany, maiden, mail, mainsail, maize, malachite and 169 more...
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katiad's Words
exquisite, obnoxious, noxious, extravaganza, whirlwind, whirling, wild, spinster, existential, chaos, zephyr, blasphemy and 310 more...
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...another list...
I've no idea where I got this page full of words, but whatever it is, I want to find it again. May have duplicate words from other lists.
bicameral, aphelion, dirigible, parhelion, flocculus, vernier, corticate, oxalis, pandanus, calabash, plumbago, jonquil and 217 more...
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fbharjo's Words
jumelle, kef, kenspeckle, lautitious, essentic, pilpulistic, impavid, cicurant, clou, chrysostomic, miasma, teleology and 1625 more...
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Chromonyms
These chromonyms are defined as colors in at least one dictionary (mostly MW3). (Actually there's one fake, for reasons I'll explain someday.) They are all one-word nouns such as "kelly", which can...
absinthe, acacia, acorn, alabaster, alesan, almond, aloma, amaranth, amber, amethyst, anemone, anil and 821 more...
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christy927's list
...all my favorite words...
chrysalis, mahogany, indigo, elysian, rubenesque, cataclysmic, scythe, archaic, gaelic, trollop, sycamore, canopy and 279 more...
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All About Shoes
clogs, mules, pumps, shankpiece, welt, insoles, loafers, metatarsalgia, platform shoes, thongs, tongue piece, outer soles and 40 more...
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sartorial splendor
Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence on society.
-Mark Twainapplique, ascot, brogue, dressing gown, frippery, gusset, grommet, placket, silhouette, whipstitch, appliqué, baste and 59 more...
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Dress Me Up, But Don't Dress Me Down
muslin, hennin, houndstooth, moccasin, paisley, aglet, stomacker, poncho, sarong, kilt, middy, camisole and 25 more...
Tweets
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