cowboys and Indians

American  

noun

1. a children's game in which players imitate the supposed behavior of cowboys and Indians in conflict, as in shooting, chasing, and capturing.

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Etymology

Origin of cowboys and Indians

An Americanism dating back to 1885–90

Example Sentences

When he and his fellow Cub Scouts played Cowboys and Indians she made sure to get him books about how the Lakota tribe lived, not just Custer’s Last Stand.

From New York Times

The Western was once Hollywood’s signature genre, and “Imagining the Indian” revisits cowboys and Indians movies, television shows and cartoons in a rapid-fire introductory montage.

From Washington Post

“Reservation Dogs” is at the center of an elevated Native American presence on screen in the past few years, with characters and plots that are worlds away from Hollywood’s longtime Western formula of warring “cowboys and Indians.”

From Los Angeles Times

In 1958’s “Cowboys and ‘Indians,’” Montañez Ortiz, who identifies as being of Puerto Rican, Mexican and Native American descent, employs similar Dada tactics to make more incisively personal and political work.

From New York Times

Back then, Radnor kids, most of whom were white — I was one, graduating in ’81 — played Cowboys and Indians and watched “The Lone Ranger” reruns on television.

From New York Times