of or pertaining to North or South America; of the Western Hemisphere: the American continents.
3.
of or pertaining to the aboriginal Indians of North and South America, usually excluding the Eskimos, regarded as being of Asian ancestry and marked generally by reddish to brownish skin, black hair, dark eyes, and prominent cheekbones.
17c., from America (q.v.); originally in ref. to what are now called Native Americans; the sense of "resident of America of European descent" is first recorded 1765.