Dictionary

assapan en · NOUN

Etymology

From Eastern Algonquian, probably Powhatan, first recorded as assapanick in 1612.

Meanings

1. (Southern-US, uncommon) The southern flying squirrel (Glaucomys volans), found in the southern and eastern United States.
   • A very keen observation, prolonged for some time, is necessary to follow an Assapan at all, to distinguish and understand the purport of its different movements, […] 1896, Brehm's Life of animals, translated from the third German edition by Pechuel-Loesche, Haacke and Schmidtlein, page 312
   • Other Taguans and Assapans belong to the genus Sciuropterus, or winged squirrels. Like most of the active rodents, the Flying Squirrels are very capable of domestication, and will soon learn to prefer the society of human beings […]. 1875, John George Wood, Trespassers: showing how the inhabitants of earth, air, and water are enabled to trespass on domains not their own, page 299:
   • Assapans are fond of living in colonies, and where they have not been disturbed come together in great numbers for what can be no other purpose than play. 1909, Wallace Rice, Animals: a popular natural history of wild beasts, page 66

Forms

Synonyms

assapanick