Of, pertaining to, or designating, one of the principal linguistic stocks of the North American Indians. The territory of the northern Iroquoian tribes, of whom the Five Nations, or Iroquois proper, were the chief, extended from the shores of the St. Lawrence and of Lakes Huron, Ontario, and Erie south, through eastern Pennsylvania, to Maryland; that of the southern tribes, of whom the Cherokees were chief, formed part of Virginia, the Carolinas, Georgia, Tennessee, and Kentucky. All of the tribes were agricultural, and they were noted for large, communal houses, palisaded towns, and ability to organize, as well as for skill in war.
source: Webster 1913
noun
a family of North American Indian languages spoken by the Iroquois
