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dentalium

American  
[den-tay-lee-uhm] / dɛnˈteɪ li əm /

noun

  • dentaliums,
    plural
  • dentalia
    plural
  1. any tooth shell of the genus Dentalium.


dentalium British  
/ dɛnˈteɪlɪəm /

noun

  1. any scaphopod mollusc of the genus Dentalium See tusk shell

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms


Etymology

Origin of dentalium

1860–65; < New Latin < Medieval Latin dentāl ( is ) dental + -ium -ium


Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

At the unveiling, Shaginoff wore a fire bag she’d made and decorated with dentalium shells.

From Seattle Times ● Aug. 12, 2021

About the neck were long wampum necklaces with dentalium, unionida, and auricula, interspersed with beads.

From An Introduction to the mortuary customs of the North American Indians by H. C. (Harry Crécy) Yarrow

There is a common little sea-shell found in the Pacific Ocean called the dentalium.

From American Indians by Frederick Starr

They were not tattooed, but ears and noses were encumbered with pendants of dentalium and a small red glass bead.

From Sign Language Among North American Indians Compared With That Among Other Peoples And Deaf-Mutes First Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1879-1880, Government Printing Office, Washington, 1881, pages 263-552 by Garrick Mallery

Long earrings, each made from about 120 dentalium shells.

From American Antiquities Auction Catalogue, January 8, 1898 by Wm. B. Norman

By his side we placed his fire sticks, ten pieces of dentalia or Indian money, a small bag of acorn meal, a bit of dried venison, some tobacco, and his bow and arrows.

From Hunting with the Bow and Arrow by Saxton Pope

Marine animals are arranged in the subterraneous beds with admirable order, in distinct groups, oysters here, dentalia or corals there, &c., as now, according to Marsilli,77 on the shores of the Adriatic.

From Principles of Geology or, The Modern Changes of the Earth and its Inhabitants Considered as Illustrative of Geology by Sir Charles Lyell

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