accoma

See also: Accoma

English

Etymology

Probably from the Haitian Creole accoma.

Noun

accoma (countable and uncountable, plural accomas)

1. (rare) A large tree, Sideroxylon foetidissimum, (possibly native to the island of Hispaniola); also, the very hard wood harvested from it, used especially for shipbuilding.
   • 1802, Ducœurjoly quoted by Pierre Rézeau, “Lexical aspects of French and Creole in Saint-Domingue at the end of the eighteenth century” in History, Society and Variation: In Honor of Albert Valdman (2006) ed. J. Clancy Clements, page 67

     Accoma, n. m., a large tree suitable for building, a very hard wood.

   • 1811, Joshua Montefiore, The American Trader’s Compendium, page 143:

     DOMINGO, SAINT. This island is situated in the Atlantic ocean, fifty miles east of Cuba, and seventy miles east of Jamaica. The country is well stocked with cattle, oak, cedar, pine, Brazil wood, manchineal, the maho, and accoma tree.

   • 1894, Victor Hugo, translated by George Burnham Ives, Bug-Jargal, page 146:

     Continued the prisoner: ‘the chicaron and the sabiecca for a ship’s keel; the yaba for the knees; the tocuma for the ribs; the hacama, the gaïac, the cedar, the accoma — ’.

Anagrams

• Cocama, macaco