Wampum

6 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Seawan \Sea"wan\, Seawant \Sea"want\, n.
     The name used by the Algonquin Indians for the shell beads
     which passed among the Indians as money.
     [1913 Webster]
  
     Note: Seawan was of two kinds; {wampum}, white, and


           {suckanhock}, black or purple, -- the former having
           half the value of the latter. Many writers, however,
           use the terms seawan and {wampum} indiscriminately.
           --Bartlett.
           [1913 Webster]

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  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.
     [1913 Webster]
  
           Round his waist his belt of wampum.      --Longfellow.
     [1913 Webster]
  
           Girded with his wampum braid.            --Whittier.
     [1913 Webster]
  
     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.
           [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  wampum
       n 1: informal terms for money [syn: {boodle}, {bread}, {cabbage},
             {clams}, {dinero}, {dough}, {gelt}, {kale}, {lettuce},
            {lolly}, {lucre}, {loot}, {moolah}, {pelf}, {scratch}, {shekels},
             {simoleons}, {sugar}]
       2: small cylindrical beads made from polished shells and
          fashioned into strings or belts; used by certain Native
          American peoples as jewelry or currency [syn: {peag}, {wampumpeag}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  73 Moby Thesaurus words for "wampum":
     anklet, armlet, bangle, beads, bijou, blunt, boodle, bracelet,
     brass, bread, breastpin, brooch, bucks, cabbage, cash, chain,
     chaplet, charm, chatelaine, chips, circle, coin, coronet, cowrie,
     crown, currency, diadem, dinero, dough, earring, fob, gelt, gem,
     gilt, grease, green, green stuff, greenbacks, jack, jewel, kale,
     legal tender, locket, lucre, mazuma, moolah, mopus, necklace,
     nose ring, oil of palms, ointment, oof, ooftish, pin,
     precious stone, rhinestone, rhino, ring, roanoke, rocks, sewan,
     shekels, simoleons, spondulics, stickpin, stone, sugar,
     the needful, tiara, tin, torque, wristband, wristlet
  
  

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

From U.S. Gazetteer Places (2000) [gaz-place]:

  Wampum, PA -- U.S. borough in Pennsylvania
     Population (2000):    678
     Housing Units (2000): 310
     Land area (2000):     0.921043 sq. miles (2.385490 sq. km)
     Water area (2000):    0.042833 sq. miles (0.110937 sq. km)
     Total area (2000):    0.963876 sq. miles (2.496427 sq. km)
     FIPS code:            80880
     Located within:       Pennsylvania (PA), FIPS 42
     Location:             40.888657 N, 80.339650 W
     ZIP Codes (1990):     16157
     Note: some ZIP codes may be omitted esp. for suburbs.
     Headwords:
      Wampum, PA
      Wampum