Tuckahoe
//ˈtʌkəhəʊ// noun
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
Noun
- 1 The edible root of a plant of species Peltandra virginica, used by Native Americans of colonial-era Virginia. countable, uncountable
"In June, July, and August, they feed upon the rootes of Tockwough berries, fish, and greene wheat."
- 2 Alternative form of tuckahoe (“person living east of Virginia's Blue Ridge Mountains”). alt-of, alternative
- 3 perennial herb of the eastern United States having arrowhead-shaped leaves and an elongate pointed spathe and green berries wordnet
- 4 A person, especially if poor and malnourished (or if implied to be), living east of Virginia's Blue Ridge Mountains. US, Virginia, countable, dialectal, obsolete, uncommon, uncountable
"[…] at least until you either get poor Tuckahoe out of his present hobble, in furnishing so many strong suspicions against the sincerity of his former professions of patriotism, […]"
- 5 The sclerotium of wood-decay fungi of species Wolfiporia extensa, used by Native Americans and the Chinese as food and as a herbal medicine. countable, uncountable
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- 6 The flowering plant Orontium aquaticum. countable, uncountable
Example
More examples"In June, July, and August, they feed upon the rootes of Tockwough berries, fish, and greene wheat."
Etymology
From Powhatan tockawhoughe. The "person" sense implies that such a person was so poor as to be reduced to eating the root.
Related phrases
More for "tuckahoe"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.