hammock

A couple in a hammock.

Meanings

Noun

  • A swinging couch or bed, usually made of netting or canvas about six feet wide, suspended by clews or cords at the ends.
  • A piece of land thickly wooded, and usually covered with bushes and vines.

Verb

  • To lie in a hammock.
  • To hang in a way that resembles a hammock.
  • To make something be wrapped tight, like in a hammock.

Origin

  • Borrowed from Spanish hamaca, from Taíno *hamaka (compare Arawak hamaka, Wayuu jama'a), from Proto-Arawak *hamaka. Columbus, in the narrative of his first voyage, says: “A great many Indians in canoes came to the ship to-day for the purpose of bartering their cotton, and hamacas, or nets, in which they sleep.”

Modern English dictionary

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