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Moccasin

//ˈmɒkəsɪn// noun

Definitions

Noun

1
A traditional Native North American shoe, usually without a heel or sole, made of a piece of deerskin or other soft leather turned up at the edges which are either stitched together at the top of the shoe, or sewn to a vamp (a piece covering the top of the foot).
"The term Chippewa, which is generally applied to this nation, is derived from that of O̓ˊche̓pe̓ˊwa̓g, which they restrict to the Indians who reside near Fond du Lac, it signifies plaited shoes, from the fashion among those Indians of puckering their moccassins."
2
soft leather shoe; originally worn by Native Americans wordnet
3
A modern shoe with either a low or no heel resembling a traditional Native American moccasin in that the leather forming the sides of the shoe is stitched at the top.
"Walking moccasin of gray chrome tanned leather. Waterproof. Flexible elk sole."
4
A light beige colour, like that of a moccasin.
"He came in a primitive, rickety buggy, drawn by an old, moccasin-colored horse, which, it is to be hoped, had seen better days."
5
Any of several North American snakes of the genus Agkistrodon, particularly the copperhead (Agkistrodon contortrix) and the cottonmouth or water moccasin (Agkistrodon piscivorus).
"The moccaſin ſnake is a large and horrid ſerpent to all appearance, and there are very terrifying ſtories related of him by the inhabitants of the Southern ſtates, where they greatly abound, particularly in Eaſt Florida: that their bite is always incurable, the fleſh for a conſiderable ſpace about the wound rotting to the bone, which then becomes carious, and a general mortification enſues, which infallibly deſtroys the patient; […]"

Etymology

From Powhatan makasin, mockasin, mawhcasuns (plural), from Proto-Algonquian *maxkeseni. The word is cognate with Massachusett mohkisson, mokussin, Mi'kmaq mksɨn, Munsee mahkusin, Ojibwe makizin. First appears c. 1612 in the writings of John Smith. It has been suggested that sense 4 (“North American snake”) may be derived from a different Native American word.

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