DCHP-1 Online

amisk amik [< Algonk.: Cree]

• n. 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 also: beaver (def. 1)  

  • 1743  (1949)  [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."