moccasin
(ˈmɒkəsɪn)
Forms: 7, 9 mockasin, 8 molkasin, morgisson, mogasheen, -i(n)son, -erson, -oson, -ason, moggi(n)son, mokasin, -awson, mackassin, maccase(e)ne, mockassin, -aseen, -ason, -eson, magassin, 8–9 mocas(s)in, 9 mowkisin, mocki(n)son, moccaso(o)n, -usin, -assin, mognesan, mogissin, mocsen, mocasson, moccassin, 8– moccasin.
[a. Powhatan ˈmockasin, Odjibwa ˈmakisin; other Indian dialects have the stress on the middle syllable, as in Narragansett moˈkussin, Micmac mˈkusun.]
1. a. A kind of foot-gear made of deerskin or other soft leather, worn by the Indians of North America, and by the trappers and backwoodsmen who have adopted Indian customs. Also attrib., as moccasin track, moccasin awl.
| 1612 Capt. Smith Map Virginia (Arb.) 44 Mockasins. Shooes. 1704 New Hampsh. Prov. Papers (1869) III. 290 note, Every Householder..shall provide..one good pair of snow shoes and mogasheens. 1725 S. Willard in Early Rec. Lancaster, Mass. (1884) 238 We found a mogerson tracke, and spent some time scouting after said Tracke. 1760 Char. in Ann. Reg. III. 23/2 His dress was a deer-skin jacket,..with morgissons, or deer-skin pumps, or sandals, which were laced. 1788 M. Cutler in Life, etc. (1888) I. 423 We saw frequently moccasin tracks, which appeared to have been just made. 1799 J. Smith Acc. Remark. Occurr. (1870) 115 All the surgical instruments I had, was a knife, a mockason awle, and a pair of bullit moulds. 1826 J. F. Cooper Mohicans (1829) II. iv. 59 The impression of a moccasin in the rich and moist alluvion. 1840 R. H. Dana Bef. Mast xxvi. 85 Indian curiosities..such as..feathers of birds, fur mocassins [etc.]. 1877 Black Green Past. xlv, His mocassins of buffalo-hide were very elaborately embroidered. |
b. A type of shoe for informal wear, resembling those worn by American Indians.
| 1895 Montgomery Ward Catal. 513/3 Infants' Moccasins, made from soft dingola stock, with silk lace and tassel. 1944 H. McCloy Panic ii. 13 The loose sweater, kilted skirt, and flat-heeled moccasins she had put on so hastily. 1970 B. Knox Children of Mist iii. 53 He wore a blue sports shirt with brown shoes, his feet were in light tan moccasins. |
c. Austral. and N.Z. (See quots.)
| 1929 H. B. Smith Sheep & Wool Industry Austral. & N.Z. (ed. 3) x. 75 The shearers..arrayed in their working clothes, with bowyangs..and moccasins on (a kind of shoe made out of wool-pack, after the style of the foot⁓covering of the Red Indian). 1965 N.Z. Listener 26 Feb. 15/2 Moccasin, the shearer's home-made footwear, usually made of sacking or felt. |
2. moccasin flower, plant, U.S. name for the orchidaceous genus Cypripedium (Lady's Slipper); yellow moccasin, C. pubescens.
| 1680 in J. Ray Hist. Plant. (1688) II. 1926/1 Helleborine flore rotundo luteo, purpureis venis striato. The Mockasine flower. 1700 Plukenet Opera Bot. (1769) III. 101 Helleborine Virginiana... The Molkasin Flower. 1748 Phil. Trans. XLV. 159 They call it the Mocasin Flower, which also signifies in their Language a Shoe or Slipper. 1882 Garden 3 June 384/1 The Mocasson Flower (Cypripedium spectabile)..here apparently finds a congenial home. 1890 Syd. Soc. Lex., Moccasin plant, same as M. flower. Moccasin root, the Cypripedium pubescens. 1902 Cornish Naturalist Thames 181 Big white mocassin flowers,..and bog arum. 1954 C. J. Hylander Macmillan Wild Flower Bk. 65 The Lady's-slippers or Moccasin-flowers are easily recognizable by the inflated sac which forms the lip of the flower. 1970 R. T. Northen Home Orchid Growing (ed. 3) 197/2 Cypripedium. These are the moccasin-flowers or ladyslippers of our woods and moist meadows. |
3. [Possibly a distinct word; in any case the reason for the name is obscure.] In full moccasin snake: a venomous crotaline snake, Ancistrodon (or Cenchris or Toxicophis or Trigonocephalus) piscivorus, about two feet in length, usually of a somewhat aquatic habit, native of the Southern United States; also water moccasin (-snake). highland moccasin or upland moccasin, the Cottonmouth, Agkistrodon atrofuscus, a similar or identical snake inhabiting the dry land and mountainous regions. Sometimes erroneously applied to the Copper-head snake, Agkistrodon contortrix, and to snakes of the colubrine genus Nerodia.
| 1784 J. Filson Discovery Kentucke 27 The horned and the mockason snakes. 1784 J. Smyth Tour U.S.A. I. vii. 54 The most noxious, virulent, and deleterious of the species, the rattle, moccasson, and horn-snakes. 1788 [see copper-belly]. 1791 W. Bartram Carolina 272 The moccasin snake is a large and horrid serpent. Ibid. 273 There is another snake in Carolina and Florida called the moccasin. 1842 Holbrook N. Amer. Herpetol. III. 33 Trigonocephalus piscivorus... Water Mocassin Vulgo. Ibid., 45 The Trigonocephalus atro-fuscus ..is..called in Tennessee Highland Mocassin. 1849 J. E. Gray Catal. Specim. Snakes Brit. Mus. 16 The Black-brown Mocassin, Cenchris atrofuscus. 1853 Baird & Girard Catal. N. Amer. Reptiles i. 19 Toxicophis piscivorus... Water Mocassin. Ibid. 165 Highland Mocassin (Toxicophis atrofuscus). Ibid. 166 Upland Mocassin (Toxicophis atrofuscus). Ibid., Mocassin (Nerodia sipedon and N. fasciata). 187. Cassell's Nat. Hist. IV. 319 The Copper-head Snake Trigonocephalus (Ancistrodon) contortrix, often wrongly called the Mocassin Snake..preys upon frogs and birds. 1885 Riverside Nat. Hist. (1888) III. 394 The so-called highland-mocassin, Ancistrodon atrofuscus, has not been collected since the time of its original description. It and A. piscivorus are undoubtedly the same species. 1965 R. & D. Morris Men & Snakes iv. 80 As recently as 1943, it was claimed that moccasin venom had been used with success in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis. |
4. attrib., as moccasin telegram or telegraph N. Amer., a means for the rapid or surreptitious transmission of information, orig. by an Indian runner; = bush telegraph.
| 1908 A. C. Laut Conquest Gt. Northwest II. 35 Word of the white woman ran before the advancing traders by ‘moccasin telegram’. 1909 A. D. Cameron New North 349 And now, apprised by moccasin telegraph, we are all on the qui vive to catch sight of a floating bride. 1927 Sat. Even. Post 23 July 3/3 That agency known to white men as the Moccasin Telegraph, by which odd bits of news are flashed from one isolated native camp to another. 1969 Islander (Victoria, B.C.) 15 June 5/1 Word of the new constable was relayed to Simon by moccasin telegraph. |