moccasinn.
/ˈmɒkəsɪn/, U.S. /ˈmɑkəs(ə)n/ 1. † b. U.S. A woollen shoe worn by prison warders to muffle the sound of their steps. Obsolete.
a. A kind of soft-soled leather shoe originally worn by North American Indians, later also by trappers, backwoodsmen, etc.
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the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > types or styles of clothing > footwear > shoe or boot > shoe > [noun] > types of > made from specific material > skin or hide > moccasin
moccasin1612
Indian shoe1674
1609 P. Erondelle tr. M. Lescarbot Noua Francia ii. ix. 176 Besides these long stockings, our Sauages do vse shooes, which they call Mekezin.]
1612 J. Smith Map of Virginia (Arb.) 44 Mockasins, Shooes.
1704 in N. Bouton Provinc. Papers New-Hampsh. (1869) III. 290 (note) Every Householder..shall provide..one good pair of snow shoes and mogasheens.
1709 J. Lawson New Voy. Carolina 191 Sometimes, they wear Indian Shooes, or Moggizons, which are made after the same manner, as the Mens are.
1760 Char. in Ann. Reg. 3 23/2 His dress was a deer-skin jacket,..with morgissons, or deer-skin pumps, or sandals, which were laced.
c1795 S. Kelly Samuel Kelly (1925) 105 Their shoes are made from a new hide in one piece, laced up before..and these are called mawkisins.
1826 J. F. Cooper Last of Mohicans II. iv. 63 Uncas pointed out the impression of a moccasin in the rich and moist alluvion.
1840 R. H. Dana Two Years before Mast xxvi. 85 Indian curiosities..such as..feathers of birds, fur mocassins [etc.].
1877 W. Black Green Pastures xlv His mocassins of buffalo-hide were very elaborately embroidered.
1923 J. H. Cook Fifty Years on Old Frontier 167 One savage wore moccasins; the other had been barefoot.
1991 J. Wolf Daughter of Red Deer i. ix. 101 These moccasins we are wearing will not do for the snow and ice.
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the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > types or styles of clothing > footwear > shoe or boot > shoe > [noun] > types of > for specific purpose > other > shoes
running shoea1666
moccasin1834
cricket shoe1844
cricket boot1853
wading shoes1866
gym-shoe1887
track-shoe1908
1834 C. D. Arfwedson U.S. & Canada II. vii. 207 [Guards at Sing Sing] wear on their feet mocassins, as they are called, which are shoes made of woollen yarn, so that their steps are never heard.
1837 H. Martineau Society in Amer. II. iii. iv. 286 What is the purpose..of the loop-holes to peep through, and the moccasins which are to make the tread of the [prison] spies as stealthy as that of a cat? To detect talking.
c. A soft informal shoe or slipper, esp. one without a separate heel, having the sole turned up on all sides and sewn to the upper in a simple gathered seam. Cf. loafer n. 3a.
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the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > types or styles of clothing > footwear > shoe or boot > shoe > [noun] > types of > informal or casual shoe
moccasin1885
moc1913
Top-sider1937
loafer1939
casual1941
stroller1948
Weejuns1957
Wallabee1968
1885 T. Mozley Reminisc. Towns (ed. 2) II. lxxiii. 51 So he dressed his friend in the gardener's third best suit, with the addition of moccasins and an Indian mantle.
1895 Montgomery Ward Catal. Spring & Summer 513/3 Infants' Moccasins, made from soft dingola stock, with silk lace and tassel.
1944 H. McCloy Panic ii. 13 The loose sweater, kilted skirt, and flat-heeled moccasins she had put on so hastily.
1970 B. Knox Children of Mist iii. 53 He wore a blue sports shirt with brown shoes, his feet were in light tan moccasins.
1990 M. Harris Hemingway's Suitcase v. 39 Alan was in his usual black leather jacket, jeans and moccasins.
d. Australian and New Zealand. A kind of rough shoe or other foot-covering worn while shearing sheep.
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the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > types or styles of clothing > footwear > shoe or boot > shoe > [noun] > types of > for specific purpose > other
walking shoe1694
training shoe1837
tackiec1902
moccasin1929
trainer shoe1944
trainer1968
bootee1974
cross-trainer1987
1929 H. B. Smith Sheep & Wool Industry Austral. & N.Z. (ed. 3) x. 75 The shearers..arrayed in their working clothes, with bowyangs..and moccasins on (a kind of shoe made out of wool-pack, after the style of the foot~covering of the Red Indian).
1965 N.Z. Listener 26 Feb. 15/2 Moccasin, the shearer's home-made footwear, usually made of sacking or felt.
1989 N.Z. Eng. Newslet. iii. 25 Moccassins, carpet, sack or leather footwear worn in the shearing shed.
2. North American. In full moccasin flower. Originally: any of various North American orchids. Now: spec. any of several lady's slipper orchids, esp. the pink-flowered Cypripedium acaule.yellow moccasin: see yellow adj. and n. Compounds 2c(b).
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the world > plants > particular plants > cultivated or valued plants > particular cultivated or ornamental plants > particular flower or plant esteemed for flower > [noun] > orchids
satyrionOE
bollockwort?a1300
sanicle14..
bollock?a1425
martagon1548
orchis1559
dogstones1562
hare's-ballocks1562
stone1562
bollock grass1578
dog's cods1578
dog's cullions1578
double-leaf1578
fly-orchis1578
goat's cullions1578
goat's orchis1578
priest's pintle1578
twayblade1578
bee-orchis1597
bifoil1597
bird's nest1597
bird's orchis1597
butterfly orchis1597
fenny-stones1597
gelded satyrion1597
gnat satyrion1597
humble-bee orchis1597
lady's slipper1597
sweet ballocks1597
two-blade1605
cullions1611
bee-flower1626
fly-flower1640
man orchis1670
musk orchis1670
moccasin flower1680
gnat-flower1688
faham tea1728
Ophrys1754
green man orchis1762
Arethusa1764
honey flower1771
cypripedium1775
rattlesnake plantain1778
Venus's slipper1785
Adam and Eve1789
lizard orchis179.
epidendrum1791
Pogonia?1801
Vanda1801
cymbidium1815
Oncidium1822
putty-root1822
Noah's Ark1826
yellow moccasin1826
gongora1827
cattleya1828
green man1828
nervine1828
stanhopea1829
dove-flower1831
catasetum1836
Odontoglossum1836
Miltonia1837
letter plant1838
spread eagle1838
letter-leaf1839
swan-plant1841
orchid1843
disa1844
masdevallia1845
Phalaenopsis1846
faham1850
Indian crocus1850
moccasin plant1850
pleione1851
dove orchis1852
nerve root1854
Holy Ghost flower1862
basket-plant1865
lizard's tongue1866
mousetail1866
Sobralia1866
swan-neck1866
swanwort1866
Indian shoe1876
odontoglot1879
wreathewort1879
moth orchid1880
rattlesnake orchid1881
dendrobe1882
dove-plant1882
Madeira orchis1882
man orchis1882
swan-flower1884
slipper-orchid1885
slipper orchis1889
mayflower1894
scorpion orchid1897
moederkappie1910
dove orchid1918
monkey orchid1925
man orchid1927
1680 in J. Ray Hist. Plant. (1688) II. 1926/1 Helleborine flore rotundo luteo, purpureis venis striato. The Mockasine flower.
1700 L. Plukenet Opera Bot. (1769) III. 101 Helleborine Virginiana..The Molkasin Flower.
1748 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 45 159 They call it the Mocasin Flower, which also signifies in their Language a Shoe or Slipper.
1838 A. Jameson Winter Stud. & Summer Rambles Canada II. 116 The white and yellow and purple cyprepedium, bordered the path. [Note] The Indians know it as the moccasin flower.
1882 Garden 3 June 384/1 The Mocasson Flower (Cypripedium spectabile)..here apparently finds a congenial home.
1902 C. J. Cornish Naturalist on Thames 181 Big white mocassin flowers,..and bog arum.
1954 C. J. Hylander Macmillan Wild Flower Bk. 65 The Lady's-slippers or Moccasin-flowers are easily recognizable by the inflated sac which forms the lip of the flower.
1987 F. W. Case Orchids Western Great Lakes 71 Pink Lady's-slipper, stemless lady's-slipper, moccasin-flower—Cypripedium acaule.
3. In full moccasin snake. A North American pit viper of the genus Agkistrodon; spec. (a) the semiaquatic A. piscivorus of the southern United States, a large, dangerous snake which inhabits lowland swamps and waterways (more fully water moccasin, cottonmouth moccasin); (b) the copperhead, A. contortrix (more fully highland moccasin). Also: any of various similar but non-venomous snakes, esp. of the genus Natrix (family Colubridae).
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the world > animals > reptiles > order Squamata (lizards and snakes) > suborder Ophidia (snakes) > types of snake > [noun] > family Viperidae (vipers) > subfamily Crotalinae > genus Agkistrodon > agkistrodon atrofuscus (cotton-mouth)
highland moccasin1765
water moccasin1765
cotton-mouth1832
land moccasin1836
the world > animals > reptiles > order Squamata (lizards and snakes) > suborder Ophidia (snakes) > types of snake > [noun] > family Viperidae (vipers) > subfamily Crotalinae > genus Agkistrodon > agkistrodon piscivorus (moccasin)
water rattlesnake1737
water viper1737
moccasin snake1765
water moccasin1821
1765 J. Bartram Diary 5 Aug. in Trans. Amer. Philos. Soc. (1942) 33 18/1 We killed a Moccasin snake & toward noon it rained & thundred excedingly.
1784 J. Filson Discov. Kentucke 27 The horned and the mockason snakes.
1784 J. F. D. Smyth Tour U.S.A. I. vii. 54 The most noxious, virulent, and deleterious of the species, the rattle, moccasson, and horn-snakes.
1791 W. Bartram Trav. N. & S. Carolina 272 The moccasin snake is a large and horrid serpent.
1791 W. Bartram Trav. N. & S. Carolina 273 There is another snake in Carolina and Florida called the moccasin.
1836 M. Holley Texas v. 104 Land and water moccasin..are the only venomous snakes, besides the rattlers, found in Texas.
1849 Catal. Snakes Brit. Mus. 16 The Black-brown Mocassin, Cenchris atrofuscus.
1875 Appletons' Jrnl. 7 Aug. 171/3 We passed a large moccasin snake (a deadly species) right in our path.
1885 Riverside Nat. Hist. (1888) III. 394 The so-called highland-mocassin, Ancistrodon atrofuscus, has not been collected since the time of its original description. It and A. piscivorus are undoubtedly the same species.
1911 Encycl. Brit. XXV. 292/2 A. contortrix the ‘moccasin-snake’ or ‘copper-head’.
1933 F. H. Cheley Camping Out 206 There are two kinds: the water-mocassin, or cotton-mouth,..and the copperhead, which is the highland, or northern moccasin.
1957 A. H. Wright & A. A. Wright Handbk. Snakes (1994) II. 908 Customarily called dry-land moccasins, they live in rocky ledges, stretches of dry woods, [etc.].
1965 R. Morris & D. Morris Men & Snakes iv. 80 As recently as 1943, it was claimed that moccasin venom had been used with success in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis.
1992 R. Kenan Let Dead bury their Dead viii. 181 Dean had never seen Ray's face in such a configuration of anger, loathing,..recognition, as though he suddenly realized he had been in bed with a cottonmouth moccasin or a stinking dog.
Compounds
moccasin awl n. an awl used in making moccasins.
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1757 Lett. to Washington (1898–1902) II. 80 Mocoson Auls..16, Pounds of Thread..8.
1799 J. Smith Acct. Remarkable Occurr. 64 All the surgical instruments I had, was a knife, a mockason awl, and a pair of bullit moulds.
1948 E. N. Dick Dixie Frontier 295 The only tools necessary were a knife and a moccasin awl.
moccasin game n. chiefly Canadian and historical a gambling game originating among North American Indians (esp. in Canada), in which players attempt to guess the number of small objects hidden in a moccasin; (also) a game in which an object is hidden inside one of several moccasins, and players attempt to guess which one.
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1850 C. Lanman in Southern Literary Messenger 16 727/2 The principal employment to which the men devote themselves is that of lounging about the encampment, shooting at marks, and playing the moccasin game.
1921 P. L. Haworth Trailmakers Northwest 146 A small but excited circle..are deeply engaged in gambling by what is known as the ‘moccasin game’. In an empty moccasin are placed sundry buttons and bullets, which, being shaken up, involve the guessing of the number in the shoe.
2000 Arizona Republic (Electronic ed.) 1 Jan. A contest called..moccasin game... Traditionally, opponents searched for a yucca ball hidden in moccasins.
moccasin plant n. now rare = sense 2.
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the world > plants > particular plants > cultivated or valued plants > particular cultivated or ornamental plants > particular flower or plant esteemed for flower > [noun] > orchids
satyrionOE
bollockwort?a1300
sanicle14..
bollock?a1425
martagon1548
orchis1559
dogstones1562
hare's-ballocks1562
stone1562
bollock grass1578
dog's cods1578
dog's cullions1578
double-leaf1578
fly-orchis1578
goat's cullions1578
goat's orchis1578
priest's pintle1578
twayblade1578
bee-orchis1597
bifoil1597
bird's nest1597
bird's orchis1597
butterfly orchis1597
fenny-stones1597
gelded satyrion1597
gnat satyrion1597
humble-bee orchis1597
lady's slipper1597
sweet ballocks1597
two-blade1605
cullions1611
bee-flower1626
fly-flower1640
man orchis1670
musk orchis1670
moccasin flower1680
gnat-flower1688
faham tea1728
Ophrys1754
green man orchis1762
Arethusa1764
honey flower1771
cypripedium1775
rattlesnake plantain1778
Venus's slipper1785
Adam and Eve1789
lizard orchis179.
epidendrum1791
Pogonia?1801
Vanda1801
cymbidium1815
Oncidium1822
putty-root1822
Noah's Ark1826
yellow moccasin1826
gongora1827
cattleya1828
green man1828
nervine1828
stanhopea1829
dove-flower1831
catasetum1836
Odontoglossum1836
Miltonia1837
letter plant1838
spread eagle1838
letter-leaf1839
swan-plant1841
orchid1843
disa1844
masdevallia1845
Phalaenopsis1846
faham1850
Indian crocus1850
moccasin plant1850
pleione1851
dove orchis1852
nerve root1854
Holy Ghost flower1862
basket-plant1865
lizard's tongue1866
mousetail1866
Sobralia1866
swan-neck1866
swanwort1866
Indian shoe1876
odontoglot1879
wreathewort1879
moth orchid1880
rattlesnake orchid1881
dendrobe1882
dove-plant1882
Madeira orchis1882
man orchis1882
swan-flower1884
slipper-orchid1885
slipper orchis1889
mayflower1894
scorpion orchid1897
moederkappie1910
dove orchid1918
monkey orchid1925
man orchid1927
1850 S. F. Cooper Rural Hours 111 We found also a little troop of moccasin plants in flower.
1890 New Sydenham Soc. Lexicon Moccasin plant, same as M. flower.
moccasin root n. now rare the yellow-flowered lady's slipper orchid Cypripedium calceolus var. pubescens.
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1890 J. S. Billings National Med. Dict. II. 163/2 Moccasin-root, Cypripedium pubescens, Willd.
moccasin rubber n. chiefly Canadian a rubber overshoe worn over moccasins.
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1940 Beaver (Winnipeg) Dec. 50/1 Rubber boots of all descriptions, together with moccasin rubbers, worn over duffles, have..ousted boots of their own make.
1971 D. Pryde Nunaga (1972) i. 11 I took off my moccasin rubbers and flexed my toes.
moccasin telegram n. rare = moccasin telegraph n.
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society > communication > information > rumour > [noun] > route by which rumour is passed
grapevinea1867
bush telegraph1878
moccasin telegram1908
moccasin telegraph1909
1908 A. C. Laut Conquest Great Northwest II. 35 Word of the white woman ran before the advancing traders by ‘moccasin telegram’.
moccasin telegraph n. North American a means for the rapid or surreptitious transmission of information (cf. bush telegraph n. at bush n.1 Compounds 2).
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society > communication > information > rumour > [noun] > route by which rumour is passed
grapevinea1867
bush telegraph1878
moccasin telegram1908
moccasin telegraph1909
1909 A. D. Cameron New North 349 And now, apprised by moccasin telegraph, we are all on the qui vive to catch sight of a floating bride.
1927 Sat. Evening Post 23 July 3/3 That agency known to white men as the Moccasin Telegraph, by which odd bits of news are flashed from one isolated native camp to another.
1991 P. C. Newman Merchant Princes xii. 240 Davoud flew HBC executives on their first aerial inspection tour in the summer of 1940, much to the unwelcome surprise of local store managers, used to getting warnings of visits by Company brass via the staff moccasin telegraph.
moccasin track n. North American an Indian trail; (also) the print of a moccasin on the ground.
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1725 S. Willard in H. S. Nourse Early Rec. Lancaster, Mass. (1884) 238 We found a mogerson tracke, and spent some time scouting after said Tracke.
1788 M. Cutler Jrnl. 12 Sept. in W. P. Cutler & J. P. Cutler Life, Jrnls. & Corr. M. Cutler (1888) I. 423 We saw frequently moccasin tracks, which appeared to have been just made.
1884 Overland Monthly Oct. 371/2 There was no print of hoof or trace of moccasin track within its lonely precincts.
1973 R. Wiebe Temptations Big Bear v. v. 317 The trail left by Big Bear is no moccasin track discernible only by the bruised leaf: it is a road cut through the woods.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2002; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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