hickory,
n. [North American Indian
pawcohiccora (Capt. J. Smith) a kind of milk or oily liquor pressed from pounded hickory nuts. “
Pohickory” is named in a list of Virginia trees, in 1653, and this was finally shortened to “hickory.”
J. H. Trumbull.].
An American tree of the genus Carya, of which there are several species. The shagbark is the Carya alba, and has a very rough bark; it affords the hickory nut of the markets. The pignut, or brown hickory, is the Carya glabra. The swamp hickory is Carya amara, having a nut whose shell is very thin and the kernel bitter. [1913 Webster]
Hickory shad. (Zoöl.) (a) The mattowacca, or fall herring. (b) The gizzard shad.