1. hickory - Noun
2. hickory - Adjective
An American tree of the genus Carya, of which there are several species. The shagbark is the C. alba, and has a very rough bark; it affords the hickory nut of the markets. The pignut, or brown hickory, is the C. glabra. The swamp hickory is C. amara, having a nut whose shell is very thin and the kernel bitter.
Source: Webster's dictionaryOnce upon a time, when the Yewnited States was just a little shaver among the nations, but already very spoiled along the literate Eastern fringes, there lived younder in Tennessee a lovable old man with a tongue like a rat-tailed file and a face so hard they called him Old Hickory. Whittaker Chambers
In my Spanish cloak, And old slouch hat, And overshoes of felt, And Tyke, my faithful dog, And my knotted hickory cane, I slipped about with a bull's-eye lantern From door to door on the square. Edgar Lee Masters
So Pa sold the little house. He sold the cow and calf. He made hickory bows and fastened them upright to the wagon box. Ma helped him stretch white canvas over them. Laura Ingalls Wilder
Smooth as the hickory wind that blows from Memphis down to Apalachicola. It's "Hi, y'all, did you eat well? Come on in, I'm sure glad to know ya." Don't let this old gold cross and this Allman Brothers t-shirt throw ya. It's cicadas making noise with the Southern voice. Tim McGraw
When I want to kick it up, I like to add hardwood chips or chunks to the grill; it adds bold smoky flavors. The most common woods are hickory and mesquite, but you can find alder, apple, cherry and, my personal favorite, pecan. Emeril Lagasse
I like boys. I am not foreign; I was born and raised in Hickory County, Mo. Sally Rand