any of several North American trees belonging to the genus Carya, of the walnut family, certain species of which bear edible nuts or yield a valuable wood.
the wood of any of these trees.
a switch, stick, etc., of this wood.
Baseball Slang. a baseball bat.
Also called hickory cloth,. Also called hickory stripe. a strong fabric of twill construction, used chiefly in the manufacture of work clothes.
First recorded in 1610–20, earlier pohickery, from Virginia Algonquian ( English spelling) pocohiquara, the name of a milky drink prepared from hickory nuts
A hickory is a deciduous tree, and it's also the name of its wood and the edible nut it produces. Wood from hickory trees is extremely hard and durable. The word hickory comes from the Algonquian pawcohiccora, the rich liquid that was extracted from hickory nuts and used as a beverage, cooking oil, and ingredient in many dishes. Besides being an important food source, North American hickory trees were used by indigenous peoples to make tools and weapons from the hard wood. Hickory bark was used to make fabric dyes and lye for soap. Today, wooden objects that need to be strong — like baseball bats, floorboards, and drumsticks — are often made from hickory.
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
And Joq is genuinely fascinated by the way hickory smoke mellows and rounds out a pungent blue cheese.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 4, 2025
The kitchen also follows the same aesthetic as the rest of the home and is adorned in wood cabinetry, a wooden island, and hand-hewn hickory flooring.
From MarketWatch ● Nov. 26, 2025
Customers are increasingly being lured by brands like TimberTech, which dispense with wood altogether in favor of polyvinyl chloride patterned to resemble mahogany, teak, or hickory.
From Barron's ● Nov. 7, 2025
And if they have never played with hickory clubs, it's great fun.
From BBC ● Mar. 10, 2025
At its far edge, a forest of oak and hickory topped a line of bluffs.
From "1491" by Charles C. Mann
To Old Hickory, the bank was unconstitutional, corrupt and, with respect to American liberty and character, corrupting.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 21, 2026
As part of the agreement, Corning will add capacity to its optical cable manufacturing facility in Hickory, N.C., where Meta will be the “anchor customer,” and expand its manufacturing footprint across the state.
From Barron's ● Jan. 27, 2026
At Hickory Hill, her children’s days had brimmed with well-planned activities, Brad Blank, a close friend of her children, told Vanity Fair in 1997.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 10, 2024
Mr Paxson died in September 2022 after attempting to drive over the damaged bridge in Hickory, North Carolina.
From BBC ● Sep. 20, 2023
But they’d been waiting so long to get out of Hickory.
From "We'll Fly Away" by Bryan Bliss
On big old oaks or hickories, the resulting branch flagging is unsightly, but it’s a temporary eyesore that the tree will outgrow.
From Washington Post ● Sep. 15, 2020
He says certain trees like scarlet oaks and hickories have potential for colorful displays if they get rain in early October.
From Washington Times ● Oct. 1, 2019
Surrounded by tall hickories, ash and oak, it is mostly covered in shade, a condition not ideal for grass.
From Seattle Times ● May 2, 2019
More southern — and less colorful — species like oaks and hickories may march north, eventually replacing the maples and other exhibitionists.
From New York Times ● Nov. 2, 2016
I made a sketch of the farm on my road map, and put x’s where the hickories were.
From "My Side of the Mountain" by Jean Craighead George
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.
