message stick

noun

a stick bearing carved symbols, carried by a native Australian as identification

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

Examples from the Web for message stick

Historical Examples

When a stranger carried a message-stick, it was safe for him to do his errand.
The Later Cave-Men
Katharine Elizabeth Dopp
But when a stranger had no message-stick, his life was not safe in a strange land.
The Later Cave-Men
Katharine Elizabeth Dopp
The message-stick went to Orkadal, and thence to Gaulardal, where the whole war-force was to assemble.
Heimskringla
Snorri Sturlason

message stick

Examples from the Web for message stick

Historical Examples

When a stranger carried a message-stick, it was safe for him to do his errand.

But when a stranger had no message-stick, his life was not safe in a strange land.

The message-stick went to Orkadal, and thence to Gaulardal, where the whole war-force was to assemble.