HESSIAN

hessian. Hessian, n. a native of Hesse Cassel in Germany

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Hes″sian (?), a. Of or relating to Hesse, in Germany, or to the Hessians. Hessian boots, or Hessians, boot of a kind worn in England, in the early part of the nineteenth century, tasseled in front. Thackeray. — Hessian cloth, or Hessians, a coarse hempen cloth for sacking. — Hessian crucible. See under Crucible. — Hessian fly (Zoöl.), a small dipterous fly or midge (Cecidomyia destructor). Its larvæ live between the base of the lower leaves and the stalk of wheat, and are very destructive to young wheat; — so called from the erroneous idea that it was brought into America by the Hessian troops, during the Revolution.