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indian - 6 dictionary results
In⋅di⋅an
[in-dee-uh
n] 
–noun
| 1. | Also called American Indian, Amerind, Amerindian, Native American. a member of the aboriginal people of America or of any of the aboriginal North or South American stocks, usually excluding the Eskimos. |
| 2. | any of the indigenous languages of the American Indians. Abbreviation: Ind |
| 3. | a member of any of the peoples native to or inhabiting India or the East Indies. |
| 4. | a citizen of the Republic of India. |
| 5. | Slang. a person who performs a required task or carries out the instructions of superiors: We have too many chiefs and not enough Indians. |
| 6. | Astronomy. the constellation Indus. |
–adjective
| 7. | of, pertaining to, or characteristic of the American Indians or their languages. |
| 8. | of, pertaining to, or characteristic of India or the East Indies. |
| 9. | made of Indian corn: Indian meal. |
| 10. | Zoogeography. oriental (def. 3). |
| 11. | Phytogeography. belonging or pertaining to a geographical division comprising India south of the Himalayas, and Pakistan and Sri Lanka. |
Usage note:
Because Christopher Columbus mistakenly believed that the Caribbean island on which he had landed was the subcontinent of India, he called the inhabitants Indians. Eventually, that name was applied to almost all the indigenous, non-European inhabitants of North and South America. In modern times Indian may refer to an inhabitant of the subcontinent of India or of the East Indies, to a citizen of the Republic of India, or to a member of an aboriginal American people.
In the 18th century the term American Indian came to be used for the aboriginal inhabitants of the United States and Canada; it now includes the aboriginal peoples of South America as well. (When necessary, further distinctions are made with such terms as North American Indian and South American Indian.) The terms Amerindian and Amerind subsequently developed in the attempt to reduce ambiguity. For some, especially among North American Indians, the preferred designation is Native American. All these terms appear in edited writing. Whether one or several will gain ascendancy over the others remains to be seen.
The only pre-European inhabitants of North America to whom Indian or other terms using the word Indian are not applied are the Eskimos or Inuit. See Eskimo.
Because Christopher Columbus mistakenly believed that the Caribbean island on which he had landed was the subcontinent of India, he called the inhabitants Indians. Eventually, that name was applied to almost all the indigenous, non-European inhabitants of North and South America. In modern times Indian may refer to an inhabitant of the subcontinent of India or of the East Indies, to a citizen of the Republic of India, or to a member of an aboriginal American people.
In the 18th century the term American Indian came to be used for the aboriginal inhabitants of the United States and Canada; it now includes the aboriginal peoples of South America as well. (When necessary, further distinctions are made with such terms as North American Indian and South American Indian.) The terms Amerindian and Amerind subsequently developed in the attempt to reduce ambiguity. For some, especially among North American Indians, the preferred designation is Native American. All these terms appear in edited writing. Whether one or several will gain ascendancy over the others remains to be seen.
The only pre-European inhabitants of North America to whom Indian or other terms using the word Indian are not applied are the Eskimos or Inuit. See Eskimo.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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|
Link To indian
| In·di·an (ĭn'dē-ən) adj.
Usage Note: Assuming that he had reached the Indies, Columbus called the people on the islands his ships visited "indios," or "Indians," and the misnomer has stuck ever since. It is natural that people have proposed alternative names, whether to avoid confusion between the inhabitants of America and India or to indicate respect for the original occupants of the American continents. Thus Native American has become widely established in American English, being acceptable in all contemporary contexts and preferred in many. However, the acceptance of Native American has not brought about the demise of Indian, despite persistent criticism. Unlike Negro, which was quickly stigmatized once black became preferred, Indian never fell out of favor with a large segment of the American population. It is firmly rooted in English in such common terms as Plains Indian, French and Indian War, and Indian Territory as well as in numerous plant and place names. In locutions of this kind there is no possibility of substitution. · The charge that Indian is an offensive term—hopelessly tainted by the ignorant or romantic stereotypes of popular American culture—can be answered, at least in part, by pointing to the continuing use of this term among American Indians themselves. Indeed, Indian authors and those sympathetic to Indian causes often prefer it for its unpretentious familiarity as well as its emotional impact, as in this passage from the Kiowa writer N. Scott Momaday's memoir The Names (1976): "It was about this time that [my mother] began to see herself as an Indian. That dim native heritage became a fascination and a cause for her." See Usage Notes at American Indian, First Nation, Native American. |
| In·dus 2 (ĭn'dəs) n. A constellation in the Southern Hemisphere near Tucana and Pavo. Also called Indian. [Latin Indus, an Indian, from Greek Indos, the Indus River, an Indian; see indigo.] |
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Indian
In"di*an\ (?; 277), a. [From India, and this fr. Indus, the name of a river in Asia, L. Indus, Gr. ?, OPers. Hindu, name of the land on the Indus, Skr. sindhu river, the Indus. Cf. Hindoo.]1. Of or pertaining to India proper; also to the East Indies, or, sometimes, to the West Indies. 2. Of or pertaining to the aborigines, or Indians, of America; as, Indian wars; the Indian tomahawk. 3. Made of maize or Indian corn; as, Indian corn, Indian meal, Indian bread, and the like. [U.S.] Indian bay (Bot.), a lauraceous tree (Persea Indica). Indian bean (Bot.), a name of the catalpa. Indian berry. (Bot.) Same as Cocculus indicus. Indian bread. (Bot.) Same as Cassava. Indian club, a wooden club, which is swung by the hand for gymnastic exercise. Indian cordage, cordage made of the fibers of cocoanut husk. Indian corn (Bot.), a plant of the genus Zea (Z. Mays); the maize, a native of America. See Corn, and Maize. Indian cress (Bot.), nasturtium. See Nasturtium, 2. Indian cucumber (Bot.), a plant of the genus Medeola (M. Virginica), a common in woods in the United States. The white rootstock has a taste like cucumbers. Indian currant (Bot.), a plant of the genus Symphoricarpus (S. vulgaris), bearing small red berries. Indian dye, the puccoon. Indian fig. (Bot.) (a) The banyan. See Banyan. (b) The prickly pear. Indian file, single file; arrangement of persons in a row following one after another, the usual way among Indians of traversing woods, especially when on the war path. Indian fire, a pyrotechnic composition of sulphur, niter, and realgar, burning with a brilliant white light. Indian grass (Bot.), a coarse, high grass (Chrysopogon nutans), common in the southern portions of the United States; wood grass. --Gray. Indian hemp. (Bot.) (a) A plant of the genus Apocynum (A. cannabinum), having a milky juice, and a tough, fibrous bark, whence the name. The root it used in medicine and is both emetic and cathartic in properties. (b) The variety of common hemp (Cannabis Indica), from which hasheesh is obtained. Indian mallow (Bot.), the velvet leaf (Abutilon Avicenn[ae]). See Abutilon. Indian meal, ground corn or maize. [U.S.] Indian millet (Bot.), a tall annual grass (Sorghum vulgare), having many varieties, among which are broom corn, Guinea corn, durra, and the Chinese sugar cane. It is called also Guinea corn. See Durra. Indian ox (Zo["o]l.), the zebu. Indian paint. See Bloodroot. Indian paper. See India paper, under India. Indian physic (Bot.), a plant of two species of the genus Gillenia (G. trifoliata, and G. stipulacea), common in the United States, the roots of which are used in medicine as a mild emetic; -- called also American ipecac, and bowman's root. --Gray. Indian pink. (Bot.) (a) The Cypress vine (Ipom[oe]a Quamoclit); -- so called in the West Indies. (b) See China pink, under China. Indian pipe (Bot.), a low, fleshy herb (Monotropa uniflora), growing in clusters in dark woods, and having scalelike leaves, and a solitary nodding flower. The whole plant is waxy white, but turns black in drying. Indian plantain (Bot.), a name given to several species of the genus Cacalia, tall herbs with composite white flowers, common through the United States in rich woods. --Gray. Indian poke (Bot.), a plant usually known as the white hellebore (Veratrum viride). Indian pudding, a pudding of which the chief ingredients are Indian meal, milk, and molasses. Indian purple. (a) A dull purple color. (b) The pigment of the same name, intensely blue and black. Indian red. (a) A purplish red earth or pigment composed of a silicate of iron and alumina, with magnesia. It comes from the Persian Gulf. Called also Persian red. (b) See Almagra. Indian rice (Bot.), a reedlike water grass. See Rice. Indian shot (Bot.), a plant of the genus Canna (C. Indica). The hard black seeds are as large as swan shot. See Canna. Indian summer, in the United States, a period of warm and pleasant weather occurring late in autumn. See under Summer. Indian tobacco (Bot.), a species of Lobelia. See Lobelia. Indian turnip (Bot.), an American plant of the genus Aris[ae]ma. A. triphyllum has a wrinkled farinaceous root resembling a small turnip, but with a very acrid juice. See Jack in the Pulpit, and Wake-robin. Indian wheat, maize or Indian corn. Indian yellow. (a) An intense rich yellow color, deeper than gamboge but less pure than cadmium. (b) See Euxanthin.Indian
In"di*an\ (?; 277), n. 1. A native or inhabitant of India. 2. One of the aboriginal inhabitants of America; -- so called originally from the supposed identity of America with India.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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Language Translation for : indian
Spanish:
indio,
German:
der, *die Indianer(in),
Japanese:
アメリカ・インディアン
Indian
applied to the native inhabitants of the Americas from at least 1553, on the mistaken notion that America was the eastern end of Asia. Red Indian, to distinguish them from inhabitants of India, is first attested 1831, but not commonly used in N.Amer. More than 500 modern phrases include Indian, most of them U.S. and most impugning honesty or intelligence, e.g. Indian giver, first attested 1765 in Indian gift:
"An Indian gift is a proverbial expression, signifying a present for which an equivalent return is expected." [Thomas Hutchinson, "History of Massachusetts Bay," 1765]Meaning "one who gives a gift and then asks for it back" first attested 1892.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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