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hominy

[hom-uh-nee]
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noun
  1. whole or ground hulled corn from which the bran and germ have been removed by bleaching the whole kernels in a lye bath (lye hominy) or by crushing and sifting (pearl hominy).
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Origin of hominy

1620–30, Americanism; < Virginia Algonquian (E spelling) uskatahomen, usketchamun a nominalized passive v., literally, that which is treated (in the way specified by the unidentified initial element), here probably that which is ground or beaten
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for hominy

Historical Examples

  • The water in which the hominy is cooked should remain on it.

    Woman's Institute Library of Cookery, Vol. 1

    Woman's Institute of Domestic Arts and Sciences

  • In some households the corn was pounded into hominy in wooden mortars.

  • Tom-fuller was made from beaten corn and tasted sort of like hominy.

  • You have coffee and hominy and toast and fried potatoes and all that?

    Andiron Tales

    John Kendrick Bangs

  • By following in his footsteps we learned about succotash and hominy.

    Cobb's Bill-of-Fare

    Irvin Shrewsbury Cobb

British Dictionary definitions for hominy

hominy

noun
  1. mainly US coarsely ground maize prepared as a food by boiling in milk or water
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Word Origin

C17: probably of Algonquian origin
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 hominy

n.

1629, first recorded by Capt. John Smith, probably from Powhatan (Algonquian) appuminneonash "parched corn," probably literally "that which is ground or beaten." See grits.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper