[
US
/ˈwɑmpəm/
]
[ UK /wˈæmpəm/ ]
[ UK /wˈæmpəm/ ]
NOUN
- small cylindrical beads made from polished shells and fashioned into strings or belts; used by certain Native American peoples as jewelry or currency
- informal terms for money
How To Use wampum In A Sentence
- The word wampum [wompam], [1] which has since become a general term, was restricted by the Indians to the white beads. Wampum A Paper Presented to the Numismatic and Antiquarian Society of Philadelphia
- [80] That is, the French commander said that the Indians had accepted wampum from the French towns, and therefore could not complain of them. Camps and Firesides of the Revolution
- The Indians had a sort of money called wampum, which was made of clam-shells, and this strange sort of specie was likewise taken in payment of debts by the English settlers. Journeys Through Bookland, Vol. 4
- Wampum was prized by the Indians and used by the Europeans as currency in exchange for beaver pelts.
- The wampum was her family record, badge of her office; speech made while holding it was tantamount to testimony made upon the Bible. Drums of Autumn
- He had old-fashioned notions in favor of gold and silver, which he considered the true standards of wealth and mediums of commerce, and one of his first edicts was that all duties to government should be paid in those precious metals, and that seawant, or wampum, should no longer be a legal tender. Knickerbocker's History of New York, Complete
- He doesn't know much about it, if he calls a wigwam a wampum," interposed Miss Smith, with still greater pertness. A Fair Barbarian
- Public confessions were made, and penitents touched a wampum belt as a pledge of reform.
- It should be said, in justice to the New Haven colonists, though they were the most opulent of the New England planters, save the wealthy settlers of Narragansett, that money of all kinds was scarce, and that the Indian money, wampum-peag, being made of a comparatively frail sea-shell, was more easily disfigured and broken than was metal coin; and that there was little transferable wealth in the community anyway, even in "Country Pay. Sabbath in Puritan New England
- The shells of these clams are used by the Indians as money, and make what they call their wampum; they likewise serve their women for an ornament when they intend to appear in full dress. The Conquest of Canada (Vol. 1 of 2)