Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Cherokees \Cher`o*kees"\, n. pl.; sing. {Cherokee}. (Ethnol.)
   An Appalachian tribe of Indians, formerly inhabiting the
   region about the head waters of the Tennessee River. They are
   now mostly settled in the Indian Territory, and have become
   one of the most civilized of the Indian Tribes.

Source : WordNet®

Cherokee
     n 1: the Iroquoian language spoken by the Cherokee people
     2: a member of an Iroquoian people formerly living in the
        Appalachian Mountains but now chiefly in Oklahoma