The Collaborative International Dictionary
Morisco \Mo*ris"co\ (m[-o]*r[i^]s"k[-o]), a. [Sp. See Morris the dance.] Moresque.
Morisco \Mo*ris"co\, n. [Sp. morisco Moorish.] A thing of Moorish origin; as:
The Moorish language.
A Moorish dance, now called morris dance.
--Marston.One who dances the Moorish dance.
--Shak.Moresque decoration or architecture.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
1550s, from Spanish morisco, from Moro (see Moor).\n
Wiktionary
n. (alternative capitalization of Morisco English)
Wikipedia
Moriscos (, , ; , ; meaning "Moorish") were former Muslims who converted or were coerced into converting to Christianity, after Spain finally outlawed the open practice of Islam by its sizeable Mudejar population in the early 16th century.
The Moriscos were subject to systematic expulsions from Spain's various kingdoms between 1609 and 1614, the most severe of which occurred in the eastern Kingdom of Valencia. The overall success of the expulsion is subject to academic debate although the large majority of those permanently expelled settled on the western fringe of the Ottoman Empire and the Kingdom of Morocco. The last mass prosecution against Moriscos for crypto-Islamic practices occurred in Granada in 1727, with most of those convicted receiving relatively light sentences. From then on, the indigenous practice of Islam is considered to have been effectively extinguished in Spain.
Usage examples of "morisco".
The prisoners seizing what means of defence they could find, fought desperately for their lives, and for two hours the unequal combat continued, not ending while a Morisco remained alive.
Even from Barbary came a considerable body of Moors, who entered the service of the Morisco chief.
The kinsmen and friends of the Morisco chief rode in his train, and after them came a regiment of infantry and a troop of horse.
There it remained for a year, seeming to gaze towards the hills which the Morisco chief had loved so well, and which had witnessed his brief and disastrous reign.
One of them turns out to be his old friend and neighbor, Ricote the Morisco, sneaking back into Spain in disguise.
Now they use the French fashion, and now the Spanish, and then the Morisco gown is in favour.
Christmas holidays, the Sword or Morisco Dance used to be practised at Richmond by young men dressed in shirts ornamented with ribbons folded into roses, having swords, or wood cut in the form of that weapon.
The author is a Morisco, a Spanish Moor, whom Cervantes invents from toe to turban, Cid Hamete Benengeli, Arab Historian as he describes himself on the title page.
Ricote, transformed from a Morisco into a German or Teuton, took out his own wineskin, comparable in size to the other five.
The union of Castile and Aragon, and the subsequent wars against the Moriscoes, which virtually put the knife in their heart and concluded that triumph which had been begun by Charles Martel at Tours, is an attractive portion of history.
Spain was kept busily engaged, now with the Turks and the Barbary states, now with the revolted Moriscos, or descendants of the Moors of Granada, now in the conquest of Portugal, now with the heretics of the Netherlands.
Her policy towards the Moriscos banished the most active agriculturists from the land, and large districts became desert, population declined, and the resources of the kingdom diminished yearly.
Jews and the Moriscos, though the banishment of the former took place at an earlier date.
The name of Moors, which had superseded that of Arabs, was now changed to that of Moriscos, by which these unfortunate people were afterwards known.
In 1560 the Moriscos were forbidden to employ African slaves, for fear that they might make infidels of them.