dentalium

American  

[den-tey-lee-uhm] / dɛnˈteɪ li əm /

noun

dentaliums, plural dentalia plural

1. any tooth shell of the genus Dentalium.

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dentalium British  

/ dɛnˈteɪlɪəm /

noun

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

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• dentalia
  plural
• dentaliums
  plural

Etymology

Origin of dentalium

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

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

dentalium dentalia

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

From Seattle Times ● Aug. 12, 2021

Long earrings, each made from about 120 dentalium shells.

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

The natives of the coast are fond of it as ornament, and among them strings of dentalium shells serve for money just as wampum did in the east.

From American Indians by Starr, Frederick

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

From American Indians by Starr, Frederick

The Karok use as money the red scalps of woodpeckers which are rated at from $2.50 to $5.00 each, and also dentalium shells of which they grind off the tip.

From Folkways A Study of the Sociological Importance of Usages, Manners, Customs, Mores, and Morals by Sumner, William Graham

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 Pope, Saxton

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 Lyell, Charles, Sir