amisk

[< Algonk.: Cree]

DCHP-1 (pre-1967)

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amik

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an aquatic rodent, Castor canadensis, of North America, formerly of first importance in the fur trade and long used as an emblem of Canada.

See: beaver(def. 1)

1743

[A beaver Au misk.]

1949

Where there were formerly two Beaver Rivers in Alberta, one of them is now officially the Amisk, which is the Cree name for Beaver.

1951

"Amisks who bog themselves down on willow," Dudley Shaw explained, "are permeated with a bitterish flavor."