Definition of Massachusett in US English:
Massachusett
(also Massachuset)
noun ˌmasəˈCHo͞ositˌmasəˈCHo͞osit
1A member of an extinct North American people, formerly found in eastern Massachusetts.
Example sentencesExamples
- In 1623, Myles Standish decapitated Wituwamat, a Massachusett Indian accused of conspiring to destroy the English settlements, and stuck his head on a pole outside of Plymouth's fort.
- His considerable feat was to translate the bible (Old and New Testaments) into the language of the Massachusett Indian.
- Alice's husband, Thomas, was a Massachusett Indian from Agawam on the mainland.
2The Algonquian language of the Massachusett.
Example sentencesExamples
- People on the Cape and islands spoke Massachusett, and people in what are today Rhode Island and Connecticut spoke Narragansett.
- But the language was Massachusett, nonetheless, as can be seen from wills, grave markers, transfers of land, and bills of sale written in it during the 1600s and 1700s.
- The Wampanoag spoke Massachusett, a language they shared with the Massachusett and Pawtucket Indians to the north.