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totem |
2 definitions found From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: Totem \To"tem\, n. [Massachusetts Indian wutohtimoin that to which a person or place belongs.] A rude picture, as of a bird, beast, or the like used by the North American Indians as a symbolic designation, as of a family or a clan. And they painted on the grave posts Of the graves, yet unforgotten Each his own ancestral totem Each the symbol of his household; Figures of the bear and reindeer, Of the turtle, crane, and beaver. --Longfellow. The totem,the clan deity, the beast or bird who in some supernatural way attends to the clan and watches over it --Bagehot. From WordNet r 1.6 [wn]: totem n 1: a clan identified by their kinship to a common totemic object 2: an object such as an animal or plant serving as the emblem of a family or clan especially among American Indians
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