Also 7 chincopine, 9 chicopin, chinkepin. [A corruption of the Indian name: see first quot.] The Dwarf Chestnut (Castanea pumila), a native of Virginia and the adjacent states, a shrubby tree, from 6 to 20 ft. high, with a small, very sweet nut. Water Chincapin (Nelumbium luteum); Western Chincapin (Castanopsis chrysophylla).
[1624. Capt. Smith, Virginia, II. 26. They [the Virginians] haue a small fruit growing on little trees, husked like a Chesnut, but the fruit most like a very small Acorne. This they call Chechinquamins, which they esteeme a great daintie.]
1676. T. Glover, in Phil. Trans., XI. 629. A Chincopine, which is like a Chesnut, with a Burry husk, but lesse by far. Ibid. (1693), XVII. 619. The Flowring Beech of Virginia, and … the Chinquapin of the same place.
1837. Ht. Martineau, Soc. Amer., III. 326. Look at Cornelia’s face! It is as brown as a chinquapin.
1863. Times, 16 June, 11/5 (U.S. Corresp.). A thick undergrowth of chicopin.
1883. Constance Fenimore Woolson, in Harper’s Mag., Feb., 408/2. A thicket of chincapins.
