Mahican
Americannoun
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a tribe or confederacy of North American Indians of the Algonquian family, centralized formerly in the upper Hudson valley.
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a member of this tribe or confederacy.
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the extinct Algonquian language of the Mahican Indians.
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of Mahican
First recorded in 1605–15; self-designation of the Mahican people; literally, “person (people) of the tidal estuary (of the Hudson River)”; cognate with Munsee Delaware ma·hí·kan; compare -a·hi·kan in kihta·hí·kan “ocean,” with kiht- “great”); the spelling variant Mohican was popularized by James Fenimore Cooper's The Last of the Mohicans (1826)
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Two years later, a Mahican Indian chose another Empire State location for his own Fourth of July speech.
From Salon ● Jul. 4, 2014
The Mahican Village at the mouth of the creek was called Nappechemak.
From The Hudson Three Centuries of History, Romance and Invention by Bruce, Wallace
The Mahican Tribe originally occupied all the east bank of the Hudson north of Roeliffe Jansen's Kill, near Germantown, to the head waters of the Hudson; and on the west bank, from Cohoes to Catskill.
From The Hudson Three Centuries of History, Romance and Invention by Bruce, Wallace
An old Mahican settlement known as Potick was located a little back from the river.
From The Hudson Three Centuries of History, Romance and Invention by Bruce, Wallace
The Bronx River was once a pristine waterway fished by the Mahicans, Native Americans who lived near its banks.
From Washington Post ● Aug. 13, 2019
On February 25, 1643 two groups of Lenape sought refuge from the Mahicans.
From Scientific American ● Oct. 14, 2018
They had been driven out by the Mahicans, and after that time they did not want to live there.
From Narratives of New Netherland, 1609-1664 by Jameson, J. Franklin (John Franklin)
This was the division line between the Mahicans and the Mohawks, and when the water is in full force it suggests in graceful curve and sweep a miniature Niagara.
From The Hudson Three Centuries of History, Romance and Invention by Bruce, Wallace
According to Ruttenber, the precise relation between the Mahicans of the Hudson and the Mohegans under Uncas, the Pequot chief, is not known.
From The Hudson Three Centuries of History, Romance and Invention by Bruce, Wallace
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
