Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun See hummock.
  • noun A kind of hanging bed.
  • noun In entomology, the hammock-like sack or case carried by the larvæ of certain tineid moths, as Œcophora harrisiella, hence called case-bearers.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun A swinging couch or bed, usually made of netting or canvas about six feet long and three feet wide, suspended by clews or cords at the ends.
  • noun Southern U. S. A piece of land thickly wooded, and usually covered with bushes and vines. Used also adjectively.
  • noun (Naut.) formerly, nets for stowing hammocks; now, more often, wooden boxes or a trough on the rail, used for that purpose.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A swinging couch or bed, usually made of netting or canvas about six feet wide, suspended by clews or cords at the ends.
  • noun US, archaic A piece of land thickly wooded, and usually covered with bushes and vines.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a small natural hill
  • noun a hanging bed of canvas or rope netting (usually suspended between two trees); swings easily

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Spanish hamaca, from Taino. Columbus, in the narrative of his first voyage, says: “A great many Indians in canoes came to the ship to-day for the purpose of bartering their cotton, and hamacas, or nets, in which they sleep.”

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Examples

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  • "Hammocks used at sea, especially on men-of-war, are made of canvas, and have a number of cords at each end, called clues, which are brought together and secured to an iron ring, which is hung on a hook attached to the deck-beams. Those used in the tropical parts of America and in summer in the north are usually formed of a network of Panama grass or small cords."

    --from the Century Dictionary

    September 24, 2010

  • I went to a place called McKee Gardens in Vero Beach, Florida today. The historical quotations about that place described that piece of land as a "hammock" when it was purchased about 100 years ago.

    July 1, 2015