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/pˈaʊwˌaʊ/ Listen

noun

Powwow n.

1.

A priest, or conjurer, among the North American Indians. "Be it sagamore, sachem, or powwow."

2.

Conjuration attended with great noise and confusion, and often with feasting, dancing, etc., performed by Indians for the cure of diseases, to procure success in hunting or in war, and for other purposes.

3.

Hence: Any assembly characterized by noise and confusion; a noisy frolic or gathering. (Archaic, formerly Colloq. U. S.)

4.

Any meeting assembled to discuss an issue; a parley. (Informal)

verb

Powwow v. i.

1.

To use conjuration, with noise and confusion, for the cure of disease, etc., as among the North American Indians.

2.

Hence: To hold a noisy, disorderly meeting. (Archaic, formerly Colloq. U. S.)

3.

To hold a meeting to discuss an issue. (Informal)

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Etymology of 'Powwow'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Powwow" Quotes from Famous Books

... Lone, "they made the biggest blunder of their lives bringing me over here. No, I could see they wanted to get off alone and hold a powwow. They expected she'd be at ...

— The Quirt • B.M. Bower

... a hand.—"One of the most industrious and persistent seed-transporting agencies I know of is that ubiquitous, energetic, rollicking, meddlesome busybody, the crow. I have seen crows gather by hundreds and have a regular powwow, a mass convention, where they seemed to discuss measures and appoint officers. At length they get through, and as they start to fly away many, if not all, will drop something. I have found these to be acorns, walnuts, hickory nuts, buckeyes, sycamore balls, sticks, ...

— Seed Dispersal • William J. Beal

... gritted Lone, "they made the biggest blunder of their lives bringing me over here. No, I could see they wanted to get off alone and hold a powwow. They expected ...

— Sawtooth Ranch • B. M. Bower

... insisted upon being judge, jury and executioner—proof positive that they well knew the article would not stand the arbitrary construction they had placed upon it. After the first outbreak the Baylor bullies of the lost manhood stripe and their milk-sick apologists held a windy powwow in a Baptist church, and there bipedal brutes with beards, creatures who have thus far succeeded in dodging the insane asylum, whom an inscrutable Providence has kept out of the penitentiary to ...

— Volume 10 of Brann The Iconoclast • William Cowper Brann

... use in the very natural town-meeting, or the powwow of savages. But in Rome it had developed and been refined to a point where the public had no voice, although the boasted forum still existed. The forum was monopolized by the professional orators hired by ...

— Little Journeys To The Homes Of Great Teachers • Elbert Hubbard

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