pemmican

American  

[pem-i-kuhn] / ˈpɛm ɪ kən /

Or pemican

noun

1. dried meat pounded into a powder and mixed with hot fat and dried fruits or berries, pressed into a loaf or into small cakes, originally prepared by North American Indians.

---

pemmican British  

/ ˈpɛmɪkən /

noun

1. a small pressed cake of shredded dried meat, pounded into paste with fat and berries or dried fruits, used originally by American Indians and now chiefly for emergency rations

---

Etymology

Origin of pemmican

1735–45; < Cree pimihka·n, derivative of pimihke·w he makes pemmican (mixing together the grease and other ingredients), he makes grease < Proto-Algonquian *pemihke·wa, equivalent to *pemy- grease + *-ehke· make

Example Sentences

Pemmican could be made into “hoosh,” a stew, to which the occasional fresh dog or pony meat would be added.

From Washington Post • Jul. 15, 2011

"Pemmican, nuts, rolled oats, milk powder and chocolate will be our chief food supplies," he told Berliners.

From Time Magazine Archive

Pemmican, Pemican, pem′i-kan, n. a North American Indian preparation, consisting of lean venison, dried, pounded, and pressed into cakes, now made of beef and used in Arctic expeditions, &c.

From Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 3 of 4: N-R) by Various

Pemmican opened it and held a whispered conversation with one of the attendants of the house.

From The Red Mouse by Osborne, William Hamilton

For six dogs: Pemmican, one pound per day for eighty days, four hundred and eighty pounds.

From My Attainment of the Pole by Cook, Frederick A.