moccasin

[mok-uh-sin, -zuh n]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR moccasin ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

a heelless shoe made entirely of soft leather, as deerskin, with the sole brought up and attached to a piece of u-shaped leather on top of the foot, worn originally by the American Indians.

a hard-soled shoe or slipper resembling this, often decorated with beads.

any of several North American snakes of the genus Agkistrodon (Ancistrodon), especially the cottonmouth.

RELATED WORDS

sandal, shoe

Nearby words

Origin of moccasin

1605–15, Americanism; < Virginia Algonquian < Proto-Algonquian *maxkeseni

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for moccasin

It was one of these who had dropped his moccasin, which he had not been able to find again in the dark.
The Deerslayer|James Fenimore Cooper
In an instant we were down on our knees on the hard dirt floor, and there was a man's foot in a moccasin!
The Crossing|Winston Churchill
Before we got over, I saw a moccasin track and showed it to Wilson.
Collection of Nebraska Pioneer Reminiscences|Nebraska Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution
As he crossed the rippled sand he was startled to see a moccasin print near the overturned canoe.
Dan Carter and the Great Carved Face|Mildred A. Wirt

Stonor was aware likewise of the knife sticking out of the top of her moccasin.
The Woman from Outside|Hulbert Footner

British Dictionary definitions for moccasin

moccasin

noun

a shoe of soft leather, esp deerskin, worn by North American Indians

any soft shoe resembling this

NZ a sheepshearer's footgear, usually made of sacking

short for water moccasin

Word Origin for moccasin

C17: from Algonquian; compare Narraganset mocussin shoe

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 moccasin

moccasin

"North American Indian shoe" (made of deerskin or soft leather), 1610s, from an Algonquian language of Virginia, probably Powhatan makasin "shoe," from Central Atlantic Coast Algonquian *mockasin, similar to Southern New England Algonquian *makkusin, Munsee Delaware mahkusin, Ojibwa makizin. The venomous snake of southern U.S. (1784) is perhaps a different word, but Bright regards them as identical.