Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A member of a Native American people formerly ranging over the southern Great Plains from western Kansas to northern Texas and now located in Oklahoma. The Comanche became nomadic buffalo hunters after migrating south from Wyoming in the 18th century.
  • noun The Uto-Aztecan language of the Comanche.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Of or pertaining to the Comanche people, culture, or language.
  • noun A member of the Comanche people.
  • proper noun An Amerind ethnic group of North America, especially of Texas and Oklahoma.
  • proper noun The nation of the Comanche people.
  • proper noun The Uto-Aztecan language spoken by these people, sometimes classified as a Shoshone dialect.
  • proper noun A light single-engine aircraft, the Piper PA-24 Comanche.
  • proper noun A military helicopter, the RAH-66 Comanche.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a member of the Shoshonean people who formerly lived between Wyoming and the Mexican border but are now chiefly in Oklahoma
  • noun the Shoshonean language spoken by the Comanche

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Spanish, from Ute kɨmmanči.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Probably from Spanish comanche, a corruption of Old Ute *[kɨˈman.tʃi] (“enemy”, “foreigner”) (compare Modern Southern Ute [kɨˈmaːtʃi̥] (“enemy”, “stranger”)). The Comanches’ own preferred name is Nʉmʉnʉʉ, meaning "the People".

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Examples

  • Lewis wrote about the “great Padouca nation” Padouca was believed to be another name for Comanche that “occupied the country between the upper parts of the River Platte present Nebraska and the River Kanzas.”

    EMPIRE OF THE SUMMER MOON S. C. Gwynne 2010

  • My great aunt lived her entire life in Comanche County, Texas, and was a master of Chicken Fried Steak.

    Independence and chicken-fried steak | Homesick Texan Homesick Texan 2007

  • So many raids were made by moonlight that in Texas a full, bright spring or summer moon is still known as a Comanche Moon.

    EMPIRE OF THE SUMMER MOON S. C. Gwynne 2010

  • The coal situation is a sword of Damocles over Colorado's prosperity, particularly because when XcelEnergy fires up its new 750 megawatt coal plant in Pueblo called Comanche 3, it will increase the utility's coal burn by 25 percent on coal brought in from Wyoming's Powder River Basin.

    Anne Butterfield: Over-exposed To Coal: Colorado Could Maim Its Economy 2009

  • According to Defense Industry Daily, the Army has been offered a new, all-singing, all-dancing replacement called the Comanche, at an eye-watering $36 million each.

    Realism from the Anglosphere Richard 2006

  • It was the introduction of the horse that enabled the group that came to be known as the Comanche to move south.

    Lords of the Southern Plains 2007

  • The Comanche were a warrior society, and the men dominated.

    Homeland Security-Part 6 2007

  • In the period before they had horses, the Comanche were a miserably poor mountain tribe; they moved rather late into position along the Arkansas.

    Centennial Michener, James 1974

  • The Spirit rover actually visited the outcrop, called Comanche, back in December 2005, and while initial measurements were taken, the significance of the finding only recently became apparent.

    SPACE.com 2010

  • She did a small part in a mini series called Comanche Moon with Val Kilmer, Elizabeth Banks and Steve Zahn.

    Listal promoted 2010

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