Definify.com

Webster 1913 Edition

Wampum

Wam′pum

,
Noun.
[North American Indian
wampum
,
wompam
, from the Mass.
wómpi
, Del.
wāpe
, 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.
☞ 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.

Webster 1828 Edition

Wampum

WAMPUM

,
Noun.
Shells or strings of shells, used by the American Indians as money or a medium of commerce. These strings of shells when united, form a broad belt, which is worn as an ornament or girdle. It is sometimes called wampumpeague, and wompeague, or wampampeague, of which wampum seems to be a contraction.

Similar Results