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▪ I. powwow, pow-wow, pawaw, n.|ˈpaʊwaʊ, pɑːˈwɔː| Forms: α. 7–9 powah, -aw, 7 pouwau, powawe, -ahe, 8 pouwau, pow-waa, 9 powwaa, -waw. β. 7–9 pawaw, pawwaw, 7 pawawe, pawwau, -wawe, pauwau, -waw, 8 pawau, paw-waw, 9 pawa. γ. 7– powow, pow-wow, 8 pouwou, 8– powwow. [An Algonkin (Narragansett) word, powˈwaw or poˈwah, the two syllables of which in colonial Eng. use were assimilated, and the stress transferred to the first, although in the form paˈwaw also retained on the second.] 1. A priest, sorcerer, or medicine-man of the North American Indians. α1624E. Winslow Gd. News fr. New Eng. in Purchas Pilgrims (1625) IV. 1868 The office and dutie of the Powah is to be exercised principally in calling vpon the Deuill; and curing diseases of the sicke or wounded. 1674J. Josselyn Voy. New Eng. 131 Their Physicians are the Powaws or Indian Priests. 1716B. Church Hist. Philip's War (1865) I. 177 The Indians reported that he was such a great Pouwau, that no bullet could enter him. 1766C. Beatty Two Months' Tour (1768) 87 Consulting their Pow-waas (a kind of prophets, who pretend to have converse with spirits). 1830Scott Demonol. ii. 81 The tricks practised by the Powahs, or Cunning men. 1834Whittier Mogg Megone i. 169 The Powwaw's charm. 1904G. Smith Short Hist. Chr. Missions ii. xii. 138 In 1650 the first two ‘powaws’ or wizards were converted. β1645E. Downing in Coll. Mass. Hist. Soc. Ser. iv. VI. (1863) 65 To maynteyne the worship of the devill which theire paw wawes often doe. 1670D. Denton Descr. New York (1845) 8 The day being appointed by their chief Priest or pawaw. 1809Kendall Trav. I. ix. 101 Pawa, or pawaw, spelt also powah, is a word which I have not found in so general use among the Indians of New England, as it has always been among the colonists. 1832J. Durfee What Cheer vii. xliv, And oft he thought, o'er thickets brown, he saw Wave the black fox-tail of the grim Pawaw. γ1634W. Wood New Eng. Prosp. ii. xii. 82 Their Pow⁓wows betaking themselves to their exorcismes and necromanticke charmes. 1751G. Lavington Enthus. Meth. & Papists iii. (1754) 218 The Indian Conjurer, one of those whom they call Powwows. 1858Longfellow M. Standish i. 52 Let them come,..be it sagamore, sachem, or pow-wow. 1873R. Brown Races Man. I. 246 The pow-wows visited the sick, sang and invoked their gods, and applied their medicines. 2. A ceremony of the North American Indians, especially one where magic was practised and feasting and dancing indulged in; also, a council of Indians, or conference with them. α, β1663J. Cotton in Quincy Hist. Harvard Univ. (1840) I. 53 Such as join with them in the observance of their pawawes and idolatries. 1781S. Peters Hist. Connecticut 215 An ancient religious rite, called the Pawwaw, was annually celebrated by the Indians. a1817T. Dwight Trav. New Eng., etc. (1821) II. 263 No place could be a fitter spot for an Indian Powaw. γ1788J. May Jrnl. & Lett. (1873) 94 The Indians made one of their hellish pow-wows, which lasted till the hour of rising. 1820W. Irving Sketch Bk., Leg. Sleepy Hollow, An old Indian chief, the prophet or wizard of his tribe, held his powwows there. 1887Daily News 30 Nov. 5/5 To find the thief the Indians held the Pow-wow. 3. transf. Applied to any meeting compared to an Indian conference; e.g. a political or scientific congress, a friendly consultation, or a merry-making; a ‘palaver’ of any kind; spec., a conference of senior officers. Also used occas. in general sense of ‘bustle, activity’. orig. U.S.
1812Salem Gaz. (U.S.) 5 June 3/3 The Warriors of the Democratic Tribe will hold a powow at Agawam on Tuesday next. 1840R. H. Dana Bef. Mast xx. 59 The Catalina had several Kanakas on board..they had a long pow-wow, and a smoke. 1863E. Hitchcock Remin. Amherst Coll. 333 The President..is located so near College that the midnight pow-wow [of the students] can hardly fail to disturb his slumbers. 1865Daily Tel. 26 May, The Abolitionists are having a great pow-wow here as to whether they shall or not maintain their organisation. 1874Huxley in Life (1900) I. xxviii. 411, I was not at the Cambridge pow-wow. 1892Spectator 20 Aug. 253/1 Congresses and pow-wows of all descriptions are certainly a feature of the age. 1893‘Mark Twain’ in Cosmopolitan Sept. 629/1 Without the marring additions of human pow-wow and fuss and feathers and display. 1897― Following Equator xxxviii. 346 It all helps to keep up the liveliness and augment the general sense of swiftness and energy and confusion and pow-wow. 1925Fraser & Gibbons Soldier & Sailor Words 229 Pow-wow, a senior officers' conference, as, for instance, of a General with the Commanding Officers of units after a field-day or an operation. 1926J. C. Lincoln Big Mogul vi. 112 It seems there was a great pow wow, some wanted to wear one kind of thing and some another. 1930G. MacMunn Behind Scenes in Many Wars xiii. 239, I visited him here several times, and attended his rather interminable pow⁓wows and conferences. 1936F. Clune Roaming round Darling xxii. 221 O'Hea and the bandmaster..had a private pow-wow. 1944Sun (Baltimore) 17 May 18/2 Governor O'Conor..is conceded to be in control of proceedings at the Democratic pow wow. 1954Manch. Guardian Weekly 28 Jan. 3/2 The associated lobbies that oppose the [St. Lawrence] seaway, the railroads, coal⁓owners, and Eastern port authorities, went into a round of emergency pow-wows. 1962Press (Vancouver) Nov. 9 He turned up in London at a periodical pow-wow initiated by one Cyrus Eaton. 1977Time 30 May 33/2 What had brought the Mob chiefs together was a series of powwows with New York City Mafia bosses about the new Mob power structure. 4. transf. The working of cures; ‘medicine’.
1856Kane Arct. Expl. II. xii. 126 After my skill in pow⁓wow had given me a sort of correlative rank among them. 5. attrib. and Comb., as powwow-doctor, powwow-wizard.
1843Whittier Agency of Evil Prose Wks. 1889 III. 257 Without were ‘dogs and sorcerers’,..Powah wizards, and ‘the foul fiend’. 1901Scribner's Mag. III. 525 The pow⁓wow-doctors still repeat over many bedsides the mysterious formulas. Hence ˈpowwowism, the powwow practice.
1873R. Brown Races Man. I. 235 They [sc. the old men] are the instructors into pow-wowism (or oratory), in medicine and tradition. ▪ II. powwow, v.|paʊˈwaʊ| Forms: see prec. [f. prec. n.] 1. intr. Of North American Indians: To practise medicine or sorcery; to hold a powwow.
1642T. Lechford Plain Dealing (1867) 117 They will have their tomes of Powaheing, which they will, of late, have called Prayers, according to the English word. 1646in A. S. Hudson Hist. Sudbury, Mass. (1889) 20 There shall be no more Powwowing amongst the Indians. And if any shall hereafter powwow, both he that shall powwow, and he that shall procure them to powwow, shall pay twenty shillings apiece. 1677W. Hubbard Narrative (1865) II. 196 After the Indians..had been Powawing together. 1856Kane Arct. Expl. II. xi. 118 He prescribes or powwows in sickness and over wounds. b. transf. To confer, discuss, deliberate, talk, hold palaver. (Chiefly U.S.)
1780J. Cochran in N. Eng. Hist. & Gen. Reg. (1864) XVIII. 35 He may refer the matter to Congress, they to the Medical Committee, who will probably powwow over it awhile, and no more be heard of it. 1857Longfellow in Life (1891) II. 334 Senator Mason of Virginia was there, pow⁓wowing about the Union. 1893Nation (N.Y.) 13 July 32/1 Mr. Stevenson's narrative style appears to have become infected with that quality through continued pow-wowing with Samoan grandees. 1900Century Mag. Feb. 600/2 She did not..sail to powwow about the dangers of the seas. 2. trans. To doctor, to treat with magic.
1856Kane Arct. Expl. II. xi. 116, I gave him a piece of red flannel, and powwowed him. 1905Athenæum 18 Feb. 206/2 The artistic forms of the beadwork..representing the symbols of secret societies, the qualification of the worker,..the shaman who powwowed the work. Hence powˈwowing vbl. n., the practising of powwow; conference, palaver.
1642[see 1 above]. 1650J. Eliot in Early Rec. Lancaster, Mass. (1884) 27 At my first preaching at Nashaway sundry did imbrace the word, and called upon God, and Pauwauing was wholly silenced. 1764T. Hutchinson Hist. Mass. I. 475 note, Their sweatings in their hot houses was a more rational remedy than the powowing. 1830Scott Demonol. ii. 84 The magic or powahing of the North American Indians. 1893[see 1 b above]. 1905J. C. Lincoln Partners of Tide i. 8, I cal'late there must have been some high old pow-wowin' in the old house, but..they fin'lly decided 'twas their duty to take the little feller to bring up. 1928H. W. Shoemaker in Publ. Pennsylvania Folk-Lore Soc. I. iv. 15 He arrived at the Little Valley with the book and tried to raise dark Cathlin's spook by pow-wowing. 1938A. Hark Hex marks Spot 52 Pow-wowing is a hidden but by no means secret art among the people of Pennsylvania. 1961D. Waldo Beat Drum Slowly vii. 89 There's too much pow⁓wowing going on hereabouts. |