Missourin.adj.
/mᵻˈzʊəri/, U.S. /məˈzʊri/, /məˈzʊrə/α. 1600s Massourite, 1600s Messorite.
β. 1700s Misouri, 1700s Missiouri, 1700s Missoori, 1700s– Missouri, 1700s– Missouria, 1700s Misury, 1800s Messouri, 1800s Missoure, 1800s Missourie, 1800s Missouries (plural).
A. n.
1. A member of a North American Indian people formerly inhabiting north-western Missouri and now in Oklahoma, where they are one component of the people officially known as the Otoe–Missouria Tribe.
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the world > people > ethnicities > North American peoples > Plains Indian > [noun] > Siouan
Assiniboine1690
Missouri1698
Osage1698
Santee1698
Teton1698
Yankton1698
Sioux1703
Kansa1722
Otoe1760
Omaha1761
Maha1778
Big Belly1785
Mandan1790
Minnetaree1796
Crow1801
Dakota1804
Gros Ventre1804
Kaw1804
Miniconjou1804
Ponca1804
Absaroka1812
Oglala1825
Missourian1833
Lakota1846
Dakotan1871
Hidatsa1873
Siouan1885
1698 tr. L. Hennepin New Discov. in Amer. xl. 168 Before we came to the Mouth of the River of the Illinois, we discover'd several of the Messorites, who came down all along the River.
1703 tr. L. de Lahontan New Voy. N.-Amer. I. 130 We..arriv'd on the 18th at the first Village of the Missouris.
1765 H. Bouquet in W. Smith Hist. Acct. Expedition against Ohio Indians (1966) App. iv. 70 Missouri, on the river of that name..3000 [warriors].
1797 J. MacKay in A. P. Nasatir Before Lewis & Clark (1952) II. 487 Two old villages of the Little Osages and Missourias.
1804 P. Gass Jrnl. 3 Aug. (1807) 26 Six of them were made chiefs, three Otos and three Missouris.
1847 D. Coyner Lost Trappers 55 The [Pawnee] chiefs and young men having gone to hold a council with the Ottoes and Missouries.
1894 in S. Dakota Hist. Coll. I. 267 These..enjoyed a monopoly of the trade with the Ottoes, the Ioways and the Missourias.
1947 St. Louis (Missouri) Globe-Democrat 16 Mar. The Missouris were a comparatively insignificant tribe.
1989 C. R. Wilson & W. Ferris Encycl. Southern Culture 773/2 Siouan speaking were..the..Missourias of Missouri.
2. The now extinct Siouan Chiwere language of the Missouri. Now historical.
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the mind > language > languages of the world > Amerindian > [noun] > northern Amerindian > Sioux language family > languages of
Sioux1776
Missouri1804
Osage1804
Mandan1805
Winnebago1831
Yuchi1836
Crow1846
Otoe1848
Yankton1849
Dakotana1856
Assiniboine1872
Teton1877
Santee1882
Kansa1933
Oglala1933
Lakota1939
Omaha1957
Hidatsa1964
Ho-Chunk1997
1804 W. Clark in Jrnls. Lewis & Clark (1986) II. 394 Missoure.
1933 L. Bloomfield Lang. iv. 72 The Siouan family includes many languages, such as..Missouri, Winnebago, [etc.].
B. adj.
Of, relating to, or designating the Missouri or their language. Now rare.
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the world > people > ethnicities > North American peoples > Plains Indian > [adjective] > Siouan
Assiniboine1743
Missouri1765
Mandan1794
Otoe1794
Crow1804
Maha1804
Osage1804
Gros Ventre1805
Oglala1805
Kansa1806
Dakota1809
Teton1814
Yankton1825
Lakota1846
1765 R. Rogers Conc. Acct. N. Amer. 194 The inhabitants on this river are called the Missouri Indians.
1804 W. Clark in Jrnls. Lewis & Clark (1986) II. 295 A butifull Prarie, in which the antient Missourie Indians has a village.
1844 in Whig Almanac 1846 30/1 [At] Taos..the custom house is kept at which the Missouri caravans enter their goods.
1870 L. U. Reavis Saint Louis (1871) 132 Not long after their arrival a large body of Missouri Indians visited the vicinity.
1960 J. M. Weller Stratigr. Princ. & Pract. vi. 176 Pennsylvanian coal up to nearly 100 feet thick has been mined from several ancient Missouri sink holes of moderate or small size.
1984 Jrnl. Amer. Hist. 71 690 A Presbyterian missionary for nineteen years in Missouri Indian territory.
Phrases
U.S. colloquial. I'm from Missouri, you'll have to show me and variants: I am very sceptical; I believe nothing until it is demonstrated. Also attributive in I'm-from-Missouri. Cf. show-me adj.With reference to the state; see etymology.
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1894 Sunday World-Herald (Omaha, Nebraska) 28 Oct. 10/1 John S. Johnson's time on a bicycle at Buffalo Wednesday was the fastest mile ever covered by man or beast... Johnson says that he can cover a mile in 1:30 flat, but being from Missouri he will have to show me.
1897 Kansas Univ. Q. Apr. 91 We have an expression in Missouri, ‘I'm from Missouri: you’ll have to show me.’
1900 Missouri State Tribune (Jefferson City) 13 Dec. 4/1 Ex-Lieut.-Gov. Chas. P. Johnson thinks he knows the origin of the extensively-used expression: ‘I'm from Missouri; you'll have to show me’; at least he can recall its use twenty years ago in Colorado.
1901 Columbia Missouri Statesman 13 Dec. 1/3 You gentlemen are from Kentucky, Texas, Tennessee and Arkansas and seem to trust each other, but ‘I'm from Missouri and you must show me’.
1912 C. McCarthy Wisconsin Idea 291 In the words of the current slang phrase, every Wisconsin legislator ‘comes from Missouri’ and you have to ‘show him’.
1963 J. Mitford Amer. Way of Death iii. iv. 132 If you suggest..that Destiny led him there, he will give you an I'm-from-Missouri look.
1992 New Republic 3 Aug. 12/1 I'd love to vote for a Democrat... But I'm from Missouri. I want to be shown.
Compounds
C1. attributive uses of the name of the river, territory, and state, designating articles made in or characteristic of, or things found naturally in, the region or state of Missouri.
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1806 in Deb. Congr. U.S. (1852) 9th Congress 2 Sess. App. 1046 The Missouri antelope, (called cabri by the inhabitants of the Illinois).
1814 F. Pursh Flora Amer. Septentrionalis I. 114 Oleaster, or Missouri Silver-tree.
1824 Massachusetts Spy 4 Feb. Randolph appears this winter in a large drap surtout,..and a flat Missouri fur cap.
1850 Western Jrnl. 4 124 The better qualities of Missouri wine sell readily in St. Louis at $2 per gallon.
1873 J. H. Beadle Undeveloped West xxx. 640 They come on down the road, and with their big Missouri whips would snap off the heads of chickens.
1880 Encycl. Brit. XII. 420/1 The Missouri hyacinth, Hesperoscordum lacteum.
1881 Harper's Mag. May 842/1 The Missouri silica..is naturally prepared for use.
1911 R. D. Saunders Col. Todhunter ii. 29 The Missouri supper of fried chicken, egg-bread, butterbeans and corn on the ear.
1961 R. F. Adams Old-time Cowhand 101 One [sc. a mattress] at the cheap frontier hotel, stuffed with ‘prairie feathers’ [i.e. straw], and knowed as ‘Missouri featherbeds’.
1983 G. C. Becker Fishes Wisconsin 428 Other common names: golden carp;..Missouri minnow.
C2. † Missouri antelope n. Obsolete the pronghorn, Antilocapra americana.† Missouri toothpick n. U.S. slang Obsolete a bowie knife; = toothpick n. 4.
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the world > animals > mammals > group Ungulata (hoofed) > group Ruminantia (sheep, goats, cows, etc.) > antelope > [noun] > family Antilocapridae (pronghorn antelope)
mazame1775
antelope1805
jumping deer1806
Missouri antelope1806
cabrie1807
prong-horned antelopea1815
pronghorn1823
kaama1824
prongbuck1834
prongdoe1890
1806Missouri antelope [see Compounds 1].
c1810 Rees's Cycl. (Philadelphia) at Antelope The forked-horned or Missouri antelope, so called by captain Lewis.
1832 E. Robinson Calmet's Dict. Holy Bible (Amer. rev. ed.) 70/1 In America only one species [of antelope] has yet been found, viz. the Missouri antelope, which inhabits the country west of the Mississippi.
Missouri canary n. U.S. Military slang (now rare) a mule (cf. Missouri mule n.).
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1908 Railroad Trainman Apr. 293/2 On deck were twenty-five selected Missouri mules... I used to go up on the bridge, and help the officers on their watch, and when they were off watch..go aft and make friends with those Missouri ‘canary-birds’.]
1919 B. Wilson With 364th Infantry 46 The ever-present ‘Missouri canaries’ could sound off whenever they pleased... The wronged ‘canaries’ were good publicity agents.
1920 Mixer & Server (Cincinnati, Ohio) 15 July 30/2 At this date and distance from the San Francisco convention we are wondering if Doubleyou Jay Bee will succeed in substituting a camel for the four-legged cousin of the Missouri Canary.
1945 Seafarers Log 27 Apr. 6/1 They signed on a 13-man Steward Department on a mule wagon. Then the Army brains decided that they would not ship any Missouri Canaries on her.
Missouri Compromise n. U.S. (now historical) the measure passed by the U.S. Congress in 1820 (and repealed in 1854) which provided that Missouri should be admitted to the Union as a Slave State, but forbade slavery in any other part of the Louisiana Purchase lying north of the latitude 36° 30′.
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1820 in T. H. Benton Exam. Dred Scott Case (1857) 102 The line is..nominated..by its popular descriptive appellation of ‘the Missouri Compromise Line’.
1847 J. K. Polk Diary 16 Jan. (1910) II. 335 The line of the Missouri Compromise, viz., 36° 30′.
1943 E. B. White One Man's Meat 16 The Missouri Compromise had temporarily settled the slavery question.
1993 Jrnl. Southern Hist. 59 357 To this end he worked diligently for the Missouri Compromise.
2006 M. J. Gross How to Draw Life & Times James Monroe x. 22 Monroe and his government reached a short-term answer with the 1820 Missouri Compromise. Missouri was admitted to the Union as a slave state, and Maine was admitted as a free state.
Missouri currant n. either of two species of North American currant, Ribes aureum and Ribes odoratum (family Grossulariaceae), grown chiefly for their ornamental yellow flowers.
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1826 W. Darlington Florula Cestrica 123 R[ibes] Aureum, or Missouri Currant, is chiefly admired for the beauty, and spicy fragrance of its flowers.
1876 Scribner's Monthly Nov. 118/1 These latter are grafted upon stocks of the Missouri currant at a height of three feet, producing an odd, tree-like effect.
1992 Horticulture (Nexis) Dec. 80 The clove currant (also known as the buffalo, golden, or Missouri currant) was discovered during the 1803 Lewis and Clark expedition and has been grown in gardens in this country since 1812.
Missouri gooseberry n. any of several North American species of gooseberry with red, black, or purple fruit; esp. Ribes missouriense.
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1876 Amer. Naturalist 10 272 The berry [of Ribes gracilis] is pretty large, and is prized in cultivation, under the name of Missouri gooseberry.
1945 Ecol. Monogr. 15 402/1 Many bushes of Missouri gooseberry were clothed with dead, yellow leaves.
1983 Amer. Midland Naturalist 110 178 Common small shrubs were buckbrush..and Missouri gooseberry (Ribes missouriense).
Missouri gourd n. a species of gourd of the central and southern United States and Mexico, Cucurbita foetidissima, having leaves with a strong, garlic-like odour.
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1908 Gray's New Man. Bot. (ed. 7) 765 C[ucurbita foetidissima] H.B.K. (Missouri Gourd, Fetid Wild Pumpkin).
1931 Science 15 May 528/1 Some time ago I noticed that young plants were common around the old plants of the Missouri gourd, Cucurbita foetissima.
1999 Hindu 11 Feb. 24/2 Cucurbita foetidissima is known as Missouri-gourd, chili-coyote and fetid-gourd. Till recently it was known as a weed, but its seeds are a rich source of edible oil and protein, and roots, a potential source of starch and fuel.
Missouri mule n. U.S. a mule bred in Missouri and noted for stubbornness and hardiness.
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the world > animals > mammals > group Ungulata (hoofed) > family Equidae (general equines) > [noun] > hybrid horse and ass > mule > having particular characteristics or bred in particular place
amblerc1405
Missouri mule1908
1908 Railroad Trainman Apr. 293/2 On deck were twenty-five selected Missouri mules.
1919 Internat. Jrnl. Ethics 29 190 He kicks like a Missouri mule and refuses to recognize the Bête Humaine.
1974 Science 184 788/3 Triticale may be the Missouri mule of the cereal world but with a difference—this hybrid is fertile.
2010 M. C. Barile Santa Fe Trail Missouri iv. 92 Others bred a larger, stronger mule for the freighters: the Missouri mule, which became legendary for its power and personality.
Missouri primrose n. an evening primrose, Oenothera missouriensis, native to the central and southern United States.
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1923 Ecology 4 49 Other secondary plants are..Missouri primrose, Megapterium missouriense.
1961 H. S. Irwin & M. M. Wills Roadside Flowers of Texas 164 The Flutter-mill, also known as Ozar-sundrop, Missouri-primrose, or Buttercup.
1998 Milwaukee (Wisconsin) Jrnl. Sentinel (Nexis) 21 Apr. 3 The Missouri primrose (Oenothera macrocarpa) is the perfect easy-care plant for a sunny spot with thin, dry, rocky or sandy soil.
Missouri question n. U.S. (now historical) the question of the conditions under which Missouri should be admitted into the Union, esp. as regards the status of slavery in the Union (see also Missouri Compromise n.).
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1819 J. Adams Let. 21 Dec. in T. Jefferson Writings (1903) XV. 236 The Missouri question, I hope, will follow the other waves under the ship, and do no harm.
1884 J. G. Blaine Twenty Years Congress I. 15 The ‘Missouri question’..formally appeared in Congress in the month of December, 1818.
1984 Amer. Hist. Rev. 89 1153/1 Can a study of political leadership be complete without close attention to the crisis precipitated by the Missouri question?
2010 R. A. Sauers Nationalism 29/2 Congress, tired of the Missouri question, failed to act against the state. President Monroe signed the statehood bill into law on August 10, 1821... The Missouri question showed that the slavery issue was a highly explosive national question that would not be easily dealt with.
Missouri skylark n. Sprague's pipit, Anthus spragueii, which breeds in the north-central United States.
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the world > animals > birds > order Passeriformes (singing) > non-arboreal (larks, etc.) > [noun] > family Motacillidae > genus Anthus > anthus spraguei
skylark1785
Missouri skylark1858
sky pipit1884
1858 S. F. Baird Birds (U.S. War Dept.: Rep. Explor. Route Pacific IX) ii. 234 (heading) in U.S. Congress. Serial Set (33rd Congr., 2nd Sess.: House of Representatives Executive Doc. 91) Neocorys Spraguei, Sclater. Missouri Skylark.
1872 E. Coues Birds of Northwest 42 The Missouri Skylark..is one of the most abundant and characteristic birds of all the region along the forty-ninth parallel of latitude.
1940 E. T. Seton Trail of Artist-naturalist 299 The strictly prairie birds were gone—of the Missouri skylark, for instance, I saw not one.
Missouri sucker n. the blue sucker, Cycleptus elongatus, a North American freshwater fish of the family Catostomidae.
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1820 C. S. Rafinesque Ichthyologia Ohiensis 61 Black Suckrel. Cycleptus nigrescens... It is also found in the Missouri, whence it is sometimes called the Missouri Sucker.
1869 Amer. Naturalist 3 126 (note) Missouri Sucker. (Catastomus Suckleyi Gir.). Not very common.
1983 G. C. Becker Fishes Wisconsin 611 Blue sucker... Other names: Missouri sucker.
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1855 Kansas Herald of Freedom (Lawrence) 9 June We mistrust that the author of that statement saw a Missouri toothpick and was frightened out of his wits.
1919 Wisconsin Mag. Hist. June 451 With the exception of the large Missouri ‘toothpick’ all the bowie knives were given after his death to the historical museum of our Society.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2002; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.adj.1698