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seawan

 - 5 dictionary results

sea⋅wan

  [see-wuhn]
Use seawan in a Sentence
–noun
wampum (def. 1).
Also, sea⋅want  [see-wahnt] , sewan.

Origin:
1620–30, Americanism; < New York D sewan, zeewan, zeewant, etc. < Munsee Delaware *sé⋅wan unstrung wampum, lit., that which is in a scattered state, deriv of se⋅(w)- scatter(ed)

wam⋅pum

  [wom-puhm, wawm-]
–noun
1. Also called peag, seawan, sewan. cylindrical beads made from shells, pierced and strung, used by North American Indians as a medium of exchange, for ornaments, and for ceremonial and sometimes spiritual purposes, esp. such beads when white but also including the more valuable black or dark-purple varieties.
2. Informal. money.
Origin:
1630–40; short for wampumpeag
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Cultural Dictionary

wampum [(wahm-puhm)]

Beads made from polished shells that some Native Americans once used as money and jewelry.

The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Slang Dictionary
wampum [ˈwɑmpəm]

  1. n.
    money. (From an American Indian word.) : I don't have enough wampum to swing the deal.
Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
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Word Origin & History

wampum 
1636, shortened from wampumpeag (1627), from Algonquian (probably Narragansett) wanpanpiak "string of white shell beads," from wab "white" + ompe "string" + pl. suffix -ag.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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