Also tocon, tocum, tokaun. [ad. Tupi tucumá: see next.] Name for several Brazilian palms of the genera Astrocaryum and Bactris, esp. Astrocaryum vulgare, from the young leaves of which the natives obtain a fiber which they make into cordage, nets, hats, etc.; also, the fiber itself. Also attrib., as tucum-fibre, -oil, -thread.
[1658. Piso, De Ind. Re Nat. et Med., 128.]
1810. Southey, Brazil, I. vii. 205. They used a plant called tocon for the string.
1824. trans. Spix & Martius’ Trav. Brazil, II. 248. Strings of the fibres of palm leaves (tucum).
1874. trans. Captivity H. Stade (Hakl. Soc.), 128. Long leaves which they call tokauns.
1901. Nery, Amazon, 180. The tucum is the fibre of a great palm, Astrocaryum vulgare.
