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wampum |
3 definitions found From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: Wampum \Wam"pum\, n. [North American Indian wampum, wompam from the Mass. w['o]mpi, Del. w[=a]pe, white.] Beads made of shells, used by the North American Indians as money, and also wrought into belts, etc., as an ornament. Round his waist his belt of wampum. --Longfellow. Girded with his wampum braid. --Whittier. Note: These beads were of two kinds, one white, and the other black or dark purple. The term wampum is properly applied only to the white; the dark purple ones are called suckanhock. See {Seawan}. ``It [wampum] consisted of cylindrical pieces of the shells of testaceous fishes, a quarter of an inch long, and in diameter less than a pipestem, drilled . . . so as to be strung upon a thread. The beads of a white color, rated at half the value of the black or violet, passed each as the equivalent of a farthing in transactions between the natives and the planters.'' --Palfrey. From WordNet r 1.6 [wn]: wampum n 1: small beads made from polished shells and formerly used as money by native Americans [syn: {peag}] 2: small cylindrical beads made from polished shells and used by certain Native American peoples as jewelry From U.S. Gazetteer (1990) [gazetteer]: Wampum, PA (borough, FIPS 80880) Location: 40.88647 N, 80.33880 W Population (1990): 666 (308 housing units) Area: 2.4 sq km (land), 0.1 sq km (water) Zip code(s): 16157
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