musquash
(ˈmʌskwɒʃ)
Forms: α. 7–8 mussascus; β. 7 muskewashe, muskquash, muske quashe, musquashes, musk-quass, musquass, musquosh, 8 musk squash, 9 muskwash, 7– musquash.
[a. Abnaki muskwessu (Rasler Abnaki Dict. 1691) or the equivalent in other Algonkin dialects; the form mussascus prob. belongs to the Powhatan (Virginian) dialect.]
1. = musk-rat1.
| 1624 Capt. Smith Virginia ii. 27 A Mussascus is a beast of the forme and nature of our water Rats, but many of them smell exceedingly strongly of Muske. Ibid. 216 Martins, Fitches, Musquassus, and diuers other sorts of Vermin whose names I know not. 1633 New Hampsh. Prov. Papers (1867) I. 71, 2 otters and 4 musquosh. 1674 J. Josselyn Voy. New Eng. 86 The Musquashes is a small Beast that lives in shallow ponds. 1765 T. Hutchinson Hist. Mass. I. 471 Musquashes, and even Bevers, were not much regarded, until the English..encouraged the pursuit of them. 1773 Hist. Brit. Dom. in N. Amer. vii. iii. 135 The mussascus, a sort of water rat, that smells like musk. 1782 Crevecœur Lett. 252 The casualties that generally happen either by inundations or the musk squash. 1812 J. Smyth Pract. of Customs (1821) 221 Musquash, or Musk Rat, is a diminutive of the Beaver, which is to be met with in North America. 1848 Thoreau Maine W. (1894) 105 Musquash are their principal food on these expeditions. 1872 Schele de Vere Americanisms 371 In the Northern States it [the musk-rat] is generally called Musquash, from its general Indian designation. |
2. The fur of the musquash.
| 1884 York Herald 26 Aug. 1/2 [advt.] Fur Capes, in all the most Fashionable Furs, including..Musquash. 1903 Westm. Gaz. 17 Sept. 4/2 Musquash is a brown fur. |
3. attrib. and
Comb., as
musquash fur,
musquash hole,
musquash skin;
musquash house = musk-rat house;
musquash poison, the plant
Cicuta maculata (Britton & Brown
American Flora);
musquash-root (see
quots.);
musquash sealskin, imitation sealskin made from musquash;
musquash weed, (
a)
= musquash root; (
b)
= musk-rat weed.
| 1876 Goode Anim. Resources U.S. 74 *Musquash fur used in felting. |
| 1835–40 Haliburton Clockm. Ser. i. xxiii, I thought it was like Uncle Peleg's *musquash hole, and that no soul could ever find the bottom of. |
| 1857 Thoreau Maine W. (1894) 283 What increased the resemblance was one old *musquash house almost afloat. |
| 1807 Massachusetts Spy 22 July (Th.), Five children were lately poisoned in Scipio (New York) by eating Wild Parsnip or *Musquash Root. 1857 [see beaver-poison]. 1859 Bartlett Dict. Amer., Musquash root (Cicuta maculata), an umbelliferous plant and deadly poison. 1866 Treas. Bot., Musquash root, an American name for Cicuta maculata; also Claytonia acutiflora. 1940 E. Early New England Sampler 309 The Indian had told his grandmother..of a decoction of Cowbane (called Musquash Root) that would make a woman forever sterile. |
| 1902 Westm. Gaz. 18 Dec. 4/2 One is really just as well off with the *musquash sealskin. |
| 1828 Lights & Shades I. 211 Chattered with the broker about *musquash skins,..and gum arabic. |
| 1767 Massachusetts Gaz. 21 May 3/1 Persons (especially Children) would do well to beware of this Weed. It is called wild Hemlock by some, and *Musquash Weed by others. 1892 Jrnl. Amer. Folk Lore V. 91 Thalictrum polygamum, muskrat-weed; musquash weed. 1907 A. B. Lyons Plant Names (ed. 2) 457 T[halictrum] polygamum... Celandine, Muskrat-weed, Musquash-weed. |