English edit

Etymology edit

Most often thought to be from Narragansett poquaûhock (hard clam), or perhaps from pohkeni (dark) +‎ hogki (shell). Alternatively from Mohegan-Pequot p'quaghhaug (hard clam) or another Algonquian language.

Pronunciation edit

Noun edit

quahog (plural quahogs)

  1. An edible clam with a hard shell found along the Atlantic Coast of North America, from species Mercenaria mercenaria, formerly Venus mercenaria.
    1. The largest size of such an edible clam, generally considered only fit for use in chowders and other clam dishes.
  2. A similar edible clam found along coasts around the North Atlantic, generally in deeper waters, the ocean quahog, black quahog, mahogany clam or Icelandic cyprine, Arctica islandica

Alternative forms edit

  • quahaug (slightly more common until the 1950s, now uncommon)
  • quohog (regional US; uncommon nationally)
  • cohog (regional US; uncommon nationally)

Synonyms edit

Verb edit

quahog (third-person singular simple present quahogs, present participle quahogging, simple past and past participle quahogged)

  1. (intransitive) To dig for quahogs.

References edit

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 quahog”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 quahog”, in Collins English Dictionary.
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 quahog”, in Collins English Dictionary; from Michael Agnes, editor, Webster’s New World College Dictionary, 4th edition, Cleveland, Oh.: Wiley, 2010, →ISBN.
  4. 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 quahog”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
  5. 5.0 5.1 Linguistic Atlas of New England (1939)
  6. 6.0 6.1 William Dwight Whitney and Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1914), “quahog”, in The Century Dictionary: An Encyclopedic Lexicon of the English Language, volume IV (P–Simulant), revised edition, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.: "quahog"
  • quahog”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.