Catawba
[kuh-taw-buh]
- a Siouan language of North and South Carolina.
- a river flowing from W North Carolina into South Carolina, where it becomes the Wateree River.Compare Wateree.
- Horticulture.
- a reddish variety of grape.
- the vine bearing this fruit, grown in the eastern U.S.
- a light, dry, white wine made from this grape.
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Origin of Catawba
1710–20, Americanism; apparently ultimately < Catawba (yį́) kátapu a village name, literally, (people of) the fork; perhaps via Shawnee kata·pa
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for catawba
Contemporary Examples
The visionary behind it, Nicholas Longworth was convinced Catawba would become the greatest grape in America, possibly the world.
Historical Examples
The flavor resembles that of Catawba but has less of the wild taste.
Manual of American Grape-GrowingU. P. Hedrick
Its parents are said to be Catawba pollinated by a wild stivalis.
Manual of American Grape-GrowingU. P. Hedrick
He burnt his superfluous baggage and crossed the Catawba river.
The Political History of England - Vol. X.William Hunt
The Catawba crossed, the next stream of importance was the Yadkin.
Historical Tales, Vol. 2 (of 15)Charles Morris
Probably it was Uché on the south-west, and Catawba on the north.
The Natural History of the Varieties of ManRobert Gordon Latham
Catawba
- plural -ba or -bas a member of a North American Indian people, formerly of South Carolina, now almost extinct
- their language, belonging to the Siouan family
- a cultivated variety of red North American grape, widely grown in the eastern US
- the wine made from these grapes
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Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for catawba
Catawba
n.
type of American grape, 1857, the name is that of a river in South Carolina, U.S., where the grape was found. The river is named for the Katahba Indian group and language (Siouan), from katapu "fork of a stream," itself a Muskogean loan-word.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper