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Missouri

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(mi zo̵or′ē)

noun

pl. Missouri a member of a North American Indian people formerly living on the Missouri River in Nebraska and, later, in Oklahoma
the Siouan language of this people

Origin: Fr, earlier ouemessourit < Illinois, lit., person who has a canoe

river in WC U.S., flowing from SW Mont. southeast into the Mississippi: 2,714 mi (4,368 km)
Midwestern state of the central U.S.: admitted, 1821; 68,886 sq mi (178,414 sq km); pop. 5,595,000; cap. Jefferson City: abbrev. MO or Mo

Origin: < Missouri

See Missouri in American Heritage Dictionary 4

noun pl. Missouri Missouri or Mis·sou·ris

a. A Native American people formerly inhabiting north-central Missouri, with present-day descendants living with the Oto in north-central Oklahoma.
b. A member of this people.
The Siouan language of the Missouri.

Origin:

Origin: French

Origin: , from Illinois ouemessourita, those that have dugout canoes

Abbr. MO or Mo.

A state of the central United States. It was admitted as the 24th state in 1821. Under Spanish control from 1762 to 1800, the area passed to the United States through the Louisiana Purchase of 1803. Organized as a territory in 1812, Missouri's application for admission as a slaveholding state in 1817 sparked a bitter controversy over the question of extending slavery into new territories. The Missouri Compromise of 1820 provided for the admission of Maine as a free state and Missouri as a slave state in the following year. Jefferson City is the capital and St. Louis the largest city. Population: 5,880,000.

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