scalp lock

American  

noun

1. a long lock or tuft of hair left on the shorn scalp by some North American Indian men.

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scalp lock British  

noun

1. a small tuft or plait of hair left on the shaven scalp by American Indian warriors as a challenge to enemies

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Etymology

Origin of scalp lock

An Americanism dating back to 1815–25

Example Sentences

Sitting Bull's scalp lock was repatriated to Mr LaPointe by the Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC in 2007.

From BBC • Oct. 28, 2021

After Sitting Bull was shot and killed in 1890 on what is now the Standing Rock Reservation, an Army doctor took the chief’s leggings and scalp lock without permission.

From Science Magazine • Oct. 26, 2021

In a paper published today in Science Advances, Willerslev and his colleagues were able to show the scalp lock belonged to LaPointe’s great-grandfather.

From Science Magazine • Oct. 26, 2021

His mild eyes behind thick-lensed glasses, his bulging forehead, uncombed scalp lock and careless clothes sometimes make people take him for a clerk in a side-street seed store.

From Time Magazine Archive

Further on was a feather trimmed and dyed that had fallen from a scalp lock, and beyond that, a blanket discarded as too old and ragged lay rotting.

From The Border Watch A Story of the Great Chief's Last Stand by Altsheler, Joseph A. (Joseph Alexander)