(in some, esp. earlier, classifications) a grouping of four branches of the Uto-Aztecan language family including Numic, Hopi, and several languages of southern California.
2.
a member of a group speaking a Shoshonean language.
–adjective
3.
of or pertaining to the Shoshonean-speaking peoples or their languages.
Sho·sho·ne also Sho·sho·ni (shō-shō'nē) n.
pl.Shoshone or Sho·sho·nes also Shoshoni or Sho·sho·nis
A Native American people comprising three divisions, specifically:
A group inhabiting parts of Idaho, northern Utah, eastern Oregon, and western Montana, now mostly in southeast Idaho. Also called Northern Shoshone, Snake1.
A group inhabiting the Great Basin area of Idaho, Utah, and Nevada south to Death Valley, California, now mostly in Nevada. Also called Western Shoshone.
A group inhabiting the Wind River valley of western Wyoming. Also called Eastern Shoshone, Wind River Shoshone.
A member of this people or any of its divisions.
Any of the languages of the Shoshone people.
[Probably from an Eastern Shoshone band name.] Sho·sho'ne·an adj.
[shoh-shoh-nee-uh
n, shoh-shuh-nee-uh
noun, plural -ans, (especially collectively