The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Hickory \Hick"o*ry\, n. [North American Indian pawcohiccora
(Capt. J. Smith) a kind of milk or oily liquor pressed from
pounded hickory nuts. "Pohickory" is named in a list of
Virginia trees, in 1653, and this was finally shortened to
"hickory." --J. H. Trumbull.] (Bot.)
An American tree of the genus Carya, of which there are
several species. The shagbark is the Carya alba, and has a
very rough bark; it affords the hickory nut of the markets.
The pignut, or brown hickory, is the Carya glabra. The
swamp hickory is Carya amara, having a nut whose shell is
very thin and the kernel bitter.
[1913 Webster]
Hickory shad. (Zool.)
(a) The mattowacca, or fall herring.
(b) The gizzard shad.
[1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Bitternut \Bit"ter*nut"\, n. (Bot.)
The swamp hickory (Carya amara). Its thin-shelled nuts are
bitter.
[1913 Webster]