calumet

American  

[kal-yuh-met, kal-yuh-met] / ˈkæl yəˌmɛt, ˌkæl yəˈmɛt /

noun

1. a long-stemmed, ornamented tobacco pipe used by North American Indians on ceremonial occasions, especially in token of peace.

---

calumet British  

/ ˈkæljʊˌmɛt /

noun

1. a less common name for peace pipe

---

Etymology

Origin of calumet

First recorded in 1710–20; from French, originally dialect (Norman, Picard): “pipe stem,” a by-form of French chalumeau “reed flute, stem of a reed,” with suffix altered to -et; chalumeau, -et

Example Sentences

One of the prairie schooners is a genuine survivor of the Colorado gold rush, the calumet used at the powwow is supposed to have been sucked by Sitting Bull himself.

From Time Magazine Archive

"I do not smoke," added Big Chief Nikita, "but really, I would be happy to light the calumet together with the leaders of all powers."

From Time Magazine Archive

The calumet was smoked, the hatchet was buried, and everlasting friendship was sworn between the old inhabitants and the new.

From Dutch and English on the Hudson A Chronicle of Colonial New York by Goodwin, Maud Wilder

The drinking of mat� among the gauchos, and among all Argentines for that matter, is like the smoking of the calumet among North American Indians.

From The Gold Diggings of Cape Horn A Study of Life in Tierra del Fuego and Patagonia by Spears, John R.

In full dress, the men of consideration wear a hawk's feather or calumet feather, worked with porcupine-quills, and fastened to the top of the head, from which it falls back.

From Oregon and Eldorado or, Romance of the Rivers by Bulfinch, Thomas