quahog
or qua·haug
[kwaw-hawg, -hog, kwoh-, koh-, kwuh-hawg, -hog]
- an edible clam, Venus (Mercenaria) mercenaria, inhabiting waters along the Atlantic coast, having a relatively thick shell.
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Origin of quahog
1745–55, Americanism; < Narragansett (E spelling) poquaûhock
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for quahog
Contemporary Examples
Quahog is a rich world full of despicable, immoral, and implausibly selfish characters.
Historical Examples
The 'neck' is a foot, and it's little because the quahog doesn't burrow deep.
The Boy With the U. S. FisheriesFrancis Rolt-Wheeler
It is to this family that the quahog or hard clam of our markets belongs.
The Animal World, A Book of Natural HistoryTheodore Wood
Quahog, kwa-hog′, n. the common round clam of the North American Atlantic coast.
The quahog is a thick-shelled, roundish mollusk with a distinctly heart-shaped outline when looked at endwise.
Zoology: The Science of Animal LifeErnest Ingersoll
The former (Venus mercenaria) was called by the Indians "quahog," and is still so called in the Eastern states.
A Civic BiologyGeorge William Hunter
quahog
- an edible clam, Venus (or Mercenaria) mercenaria, native to the Atlantic coast of North America, having a large heavy rounded shellAlso called: hard-shell clam, hard-shell, round clam Compare soft-shell clam
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Word Origin
C18: from Narraganset, short for poquauhock, from pohkeni dark + hogki shell
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for quahog
n.
1753 (quogue; Roger Williams had it as poquauhock, 1643), from an Algonquian language, perhaps Narragansett poquauhock or Pequot p'quaghhaug "hard clam."
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper