Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun One of a tribe of American Indians of the Huron-Iroquois family, situated along the Mohawk river. It was the easternmost of the Five Nations. See Iroquois.
  • noun A ruffian; specifically [cap. or lowercase], one of those who infested the streets of London about the beginning of the eighteenth century: so called from the Indian tribe of that name.

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

  • proper noun (Ethnol.) One of a tribe of Indians who formed part of the Five Nations. They formerly inhabited the valley of the Mohawk River.
  • proper noun Slang One of certain ruffians who infested the streets of London in the time of Addison, and took the name from the Mohawk Indians.

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

  • proper noun An indigenous people of North America originally from the Mohawk Valley in upstate New York to southern Quebec and eastern Ontario, the easternmost of the Iroquois Five Nations.
  • proper noun The Iroquoian language spoken by these North American indigenous people.
  • noun An individual member of the Mohawk people.
  • noun A hairstyle where both sides are shaved, with the hair along the crest of the head kept long, and usually styled so as to stand straight up.

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

  • noun a member of the Iroquoian people formerly living along the Mohawk River in New York State
  • noun the Iroquoian language spoken by the Mohawk
  • noun haircut in which the head is shaved except for a band of hair down the middle of the scalp

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

An exonym, probably from an Narragansett word meaning "they eat (animate things)", "cannibals". The phoneme /m/ is not present in the Mohawk language; the Mohawk autonym is Kanien'kehá:ka (Kanienkehaka, Kanyenkehaka).

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word Mohawk.

Examples

  • Genealogist Rudyard Edick recently visited the Fort Herkimer Church in Mohawk, N. Y., to photograph the grave of his ancestor Michael Ittig (Edick).

    Spelunking for Ancestors 2006

  • Owera = third child of Rosz and Nilma; after graduation works as qigong on Yanja; (name means wind in Mohawk)

    SKENE CAST OF CHARACTERS Maggie Jochild 2004

  • Owera = third child of Rosz and Nilma; after graduation works as qigong on Yanja; (name means wind in Mohawk)

    Archive 2004-12-12 Maggie Jochild 2004

  • The sycamore, very abundant to the north of us, on the Mohawk, is rare here; it is found on the banks of a little stream two or three miles to the southward, and that is the only spot in the neighborhood where it has been observed.

    Rural Hours 1887

  • As the name, unlike the word Mohawk, is readily pronounced by the people to whom it was given, and as they seem to have in some measure accepted it, there is not the same reason for objecting to its use as exists in the case of the latter word, -- more especially as there is no absolute certainty that it is not really an Iroquois word.

    The Iroquois Book of Rites Horatio Hale 1856

  • Colley believes it may be a dolphin, which became known as Mohawk, that was previously found injured.

    Brownsville Herald : 2009

  • She was an Mohawk from the Six Nations Reserve in Southern Ontario.

    Commemorative Ceremony for WWI Veterans « Mudpuddle 2010

  • She was an Mohawk from the Six Nations Reserve in Southern Ontario.

    2010 March 03 « Mudpuddle 2010

  • Inc. Jun Planning Gremlin Mohawk fur doll statue Chucky Hot

    Gremlins Mohawk | SciFi, Fantasy & Horror Collectibles 2008

  • Agniehrononnon Agniers in French, Mohawk in English; Champlain called them Yroquois and used the word both for the Mohawk and the larger league

    Champlain's Dream David Hackett Fischer 2008

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.