nokehick

English

Etymology

See nocake.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈnəʊkˌhɪk/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈnoʊkˌ(h)ɪk/
• Hyphenation: noke‧hick

Noun

nokehick (uncountable)

1. Synonym of nocake
   • [1643, Roger Williams, “Of Eating and Entertainment”, in A Key into the Language of America: Or, An Help to the Language of the Natives in that Part of America Called New-England. […], London: […] Gregory Dexter, →OCLC, page 11:

     Nókehick | Parch'd meal, which is a readie very wholeſome food.]

   • 1702, Cotton Mather, “[Book III (Polybius. […]).] [The Third Part.] The Triumphs of the Reformed Religion in America: Or, The Life of the Renowned John Eliot; […].”, in Magnalia Christi Americana: Or, the Ecclesiastical History of New-England, from Its First Planting in the Year 1620. unto the Year of Our Lord, 1698. […], London: […] Thomas Parkhurst, […], →OCLC, part III (Or, Eliot as an Evangelist), page 191, column 2:

     [T]heir Diet has not a greater Dainty than their Nokehick, that is a ſpoonful of their parch'd meal, vvith a ſpoonful of VVater, vvhich vvill ſtrengthen them to travel a Day together; […]

   • 1792, Jeremy Belknap, “Monuments and Relics of the Indians”, in The History of New-Hampshire. […], volume III, Boston, Mass.: […] Belknap and Young, […], →OCLC, pages 92–93:

     Some of their modes of cookery have been adopted, and are retained. […] [T]heir nokehike, which is corn parched and pounded, their ſuckataſh, which is a mixture of corn and beans boiled, are much uſed, and very palatable.

   • 1814, Timothy Alden, “551. A Trophy from the Wigwam of King Philip, when He was Slain, in 1676, by —— Richard. […]”, in A Collection of American Epitaphs and Inscriptions with Occasional Notes, pentade I, volume III, New York, N.Y.: S. Marks, […], →OCLC, page 165:

     This lordly dish is made of oak, and will contain about six quarts, which was indeed a goodly quantity, whether of nokehike, appoon, nausamp, or sukketash, for the breakfast of his tawny majesty.

   • 1844, W[illia]m H[owe] C[uyler] Hosmer, “Canto Fourth. The Bower.”, in Yonnondio, or Warriors of the Genesee: A Tale of the Seventeenth Century, New York, N.Y.: Wiley & Putnam; Rochester, N.Y.: D. M. Dewey, […], →OCLC, stanza XXX, page 115:

     Mic-ki-nac sat on a fallen tree, / And of savory no-ke-hike partook, […]

   • 1863, Sylvester Judd, chapter XXXII, in History of Hadley, including the Early History of Hatfield, South Hadley, Amherst and Granby, Massachusetts, […], Northampton, Mass.: […] Metcalf & Company, →OCLC, footnote ‡, page 366:

     Nookhick or nokehick, the Indian name of the meal of parched corn, was pronounced nocake, by the English, who sometimes hired Indian women to prepare it for them. Winthrop says the parched corn was "turned almost inside outward, and was white and floury." It must have resembled our parched popcorn.

   • 1980, Howard S[ymmes] Russell, “The Family Meals”, in Indian New England before the Mayflower, Lebanon, N.H.: University Press of New England, →ISBN, part III (The Household), pages 78 and 92–93:

     [page 78] In his account [John] Gyles appears to refer to the favorite light lunch of the New England Indians—Nokehick, or parched cornmeal. The parching is said to have turned the corn's starch into sugar. [...] [pages 92–93] Long journeys like this, as well as quick removes, required a lightweight but nourishing ration. "Nokehick" or "nokake," the meal from parched corn described above, was the answer.

   • 2019, Pamela Roberts Lee, chapter 55, in The Darkness at Dawn, [Denver, Colo.]: Outskirts Press, →ISBN, page 456:

     They ate as they walked, stopping long enough to wet the nokehick, made from pounded dry Indian corn, they carried in hollow leather belts around their waists. Once the nokehick was softened, they began hiking again, eating it as they moved east along an intertwined maze of Indian trails.

Alternative forms

• nokehike