Definitions

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

  • noun A light yellow to moderate orange yellow.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A cereal plant, Zea Mays, of the grass family; the Indian corn.
  • noun The grain produced by the maize: Indian Corn.
  • noun A coal-tar color, the sodium salt of the disulphonic acid of azoxy-stilbene. It dyes silk and wool reddish-yellow in an acid bath. Also called sun-yellow.

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

  • noun (Bot.) A large species of American grass of the genus Zea (Zea Mays), widely cultivated as a forage and food plant; Indian corn, commonly called corn. Also, its seed, growing on cobs, and used as food for men and animals.
  • noun (Zoöl.) a South American bird of the genus Pseudoleistes, allied to the troupials.
  • noun a delicate pale yellow.

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

  • noun Corn; a type of grain of the species Zea mays.

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

  • noun a strong yellow color
  • noun tall annual cereal grass bearing kernels on large ears: widely cultivated in America in many varieties; the principal cereal in Mexico and Central and South America since pre-Columbian times

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Spanish maíz, from Arawakan mahiz, mahís.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Spanish maíz, from Taino maisí, mahis (variously spelled).

Support

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

Examples

Comments

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

  • Q. How much does it cost to buy corn from a pirate?

    A. A buck an ear.

    September 26, 2008

  • Haha! That reminds me of one of my Dad's jokes, which ends with someone asking a pirate, "Where are your buccaneers?"

    "Under me buckin' hat," he replies.

    ;->

    September 26, 2008

  • Cf. muffinhood.

    August 15, 2010