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mound builder

noun
  1. megapode.
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Origin of mound builder

First recorded in 1835–45

Mound Builder

noun
  1. a member of one of the various American Indian tribes who, in prehistoric and early historic times, erected the burial mounds and other earthworks of the Mississippi drainage basin and southeastern U.S.
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Origin of Mound Builder

An Americanism dating back to 1830–40
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for mound-builder

Historical Examples

  • "Lots of those fellows about in my day," said the Mound-Builder.

    The Trail Book

    Mary Austin

  • "That was a true name for many of us," said the Mound-Builder.

    The Trail Book

    Mary Austin

  • The specimen shown in fig. 302 is quoted as a “typical example of the cross of the mound-builder.”

    The Swastika

    Thomas Wilson

  • The gorget shown in Fig. 3 contains a typical example of the cross of the mound-builder.

  • The form of the object, the character of the design and the evident age of the specimen, all bespeak the mound-builder.

British Dictionary definitions for mound-builder

mound-builder

noun
  1. another name for megapode
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Mound Builder

noun
  1. a member of a group of prehistoric inhabitants of the Mississippi region who built altar-mounds, tumuli, etc
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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