Nootka
Americannoun
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Nootkas,
plural
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Nootka
plural
noun
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a member of a North American Indian people living in British Columbia and Vancouver Island
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the language of this people, belonging to the Wakashan family
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of Nootka
First recorded in 1780–90; possibly from Nootka nu⋅tka⋅ “to circle around,” mistaken by Captain James Cook to be the name of the people or of Nootka Sound
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:
The Pioneer Square Habitat Beach, dreamed up about a decade ago, is a 200-foot-long stretch of sand, rocks and native plants and shrubs like Nootka rose and dunegrass.
From Seattle Times ● Jul. 3, 2023
He wrote: "King George's Sound was the appellation given by the Commodore to this inlet, on our first arrival; but he was afterwards informed that the natives called it Nootka."
From BBC ● Jan. 22, 2023
A second theory holds that Spanish explorers could have brought the disease during their journeys to Nootka Sound on the west side of Vancouver Island in the late 1770s.
From Seattle Times ● Jun. 20, 2021
Both drew inspiration for their work from their study of North American languages such as Nootka, Shawnee and Hopi.
From The Guardian ● Jul. 27, 2018
But into the harbour of Nootka that same year of 1788, there sailed the ship of destiny, the Columbia Rediviva, in command of John Kendrick.
From The Columbia River Its History, Its Myths, Its Scenery, Its Commerce by William Denison Lyman
The Nootkas of British Columbia regard it as a tiny man, living in the crown of the head.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 7, Slice 10 "David, St" to "Demidov" by Various
According to the Nootkas the soul has the shape of a tiny man; its seat is the crown of the head.
From The Golden Bough by Sir James George Frazer
The Arcadians were bears, knew it, and possibly danced a bear dance, as Mandans or Nootkas dance a buffalo dance or a wolf dance.
From Modern Mythology by Andrew Lang
It was a union of the Indian tribes of Oregon and Washington, with the Willamettes at the head, against their great hereditary enemies, the Nootkas, the Shoshones, and the Spokanes.
From The Bridge of the Gods A Romance of Indian Oregon. 19th Edition. by Frederic Homer Balch
Among the Nootkas whole tribes lived under one roof.
From The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State by Friedrich Engels
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.
