Iowa Hear it!

Iowa1 definition

Iowa (īə wə, -wā′)

noun

  1. pl. Iowa -·wa or Iowas -·was a member of a North American Indian people previously living in Iowa and Missouri and now living in Nebraska, Kansas, and Oklahoma
  2. the Siouan language of this people, closely related to Missouri
Iowa2 definition

Iowa (īə wə)

  1. Midwestern state of the NC U.S.: admitted, 1846; 55,869 sq mi (144,701 sq km); pop. 2,926,000; cap. Des Moines: abbrev. IA or Ia
  2. river flowing from N Iowa southeast into the Mississippi: c. 300 mi (483 km)

Etymology: Fr ayoés, earlier aiou[h]ouea, etc., prob. via Illinois < Dakota ayúxba, lit., ? the sleepy ones

Webster's New World College Dictionary Copyright © 2005 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Comments
Improve this definition.
Do you have more to add? Share your linguistic knowledge or observation.
/Register to save your comments.