DCHP-1 Online

cockawee cac(c)awee [ < Algonk., perhaps through Cdn F ; cf. Micmac kakawegech wild duck ]

• n. a common duck, Clangula hyemalis, of the northern hemisphere.

  See also: old squaw (duck)  

  • 1760  The coast around these islands swarms . . . with all sorts of wild fowl, as bustards, crevans . . . cacaouis. . . .
  • 1853  There is the "old wife" or "old squaw" . . . called by the voyageurs "caccawié," from its fancied utterance of these syllables. . . .
  • 1896  Red-throated loons and cacawees were the most abundant of the water birds.
  • 1904  Of the sea-duck there are many varieties . . . loon, teal, and cock-a-wie. . . .
  • 1959  OLD SQUAW . . . cockawee (Spelled in numerous other ways . . . Nfld., "Labr.," Que., Ont., "N.W.T.," B.C.). . . .