Emily Dickinson Lexicon

HAM'MOC, n. [Sp. hamaca; Port. maca. A word of Indian origin; for Columbus, in the Narrative of his first Voyage, says: – “A great many Indians in canoes came to the ship to-day for the purpose of bartering their cotton, and hamacas or nets in which they sleep.”]

A kind of hanging bed, suspended between trees, or by hooks. It consists of a piece of hempen cloth about six feet long and three feet wide, gathered at the ends and suspended by cords. It forms a bed, or a receptacle for a bed, on board of ships. Encyc. Mar. Dict.