Hessian

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• adjective Of or relating to Hesse or its inhabitants.
• noun A native or inhabitant of Hesse.
• noun A German mercenary in the British army in America during the Revolutionary War.
• noun A mercenary soldier.

from The Century Dictionary.

• noun In mathematics, a functional determinant whose constituents are the second differential coefficients of a quantic, arranged in regular order.
• Relating or pertaining to Hesse in Germany, or to the Hessians.
• noun A native or an inhabitant of Hesse in Germany.
• noun In the United States, as a term of reproach, a mercenary; a military or political hireling: from the employment of Hessian troops as mercenaries by the British government in the American revolution.
• noun plural A kind of long boots originally worn by Hessian soldiers; Hessian boots.
• noun plural A kind of coarse cloth, made of hemp, or, in modern times, of a mixture of hemp and jute, and used principally for bagging.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

• noun A native or inhabitant of Hesse.
• noun United States A mercenary or venal person.
• noun See Hessian boots and cloth, under Hessian, a.
• adjective Of or relating to Hesse, in Germany, or to the Hessians.
• adjective boot of a kind worn in England, in the early part of the nineteenth century, tasseled in front.
• adjective a coarse hempen cloth for sacking.
• adjective See under Crucible.
• adjective (Zoöl.) a small dipterous fly or midge (Cecidomyia destructor). Its larvæ live between the base of the lower leaves and the stalk of wheat, and are very destructive to young wheat; -- so called from the erroneous idea that it was brought into America by the Hessian troops, during the Revolution.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

• adjective Of, from or relating to Hesse in Germany.
• proper noun A native or inhabitant of Hesse.
• proper noun historical A mercenary soldier, especially a German one who fought with the British in the American Revolutionary War.
• noun A boot with a low heel and semi-pointed toe, which became popular, initially among the military, in the 18th century.
• noun chiefly UK Burlap, jute.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

• noun (19th century) a man's high tasseled boot