wampum

wampum

slang Money. A reference to the traditional shell beads used by the indigenous people of the Eastern Woodlands of America as currency. We stand to make a lot of wampum with this product. We decided to set up a lemonade stand to earn a little wampum over the summer.
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

wampum

(ˈwɑmpəm)
n. money. (From an American Indian word.) I don’t have enough wampum to swing the deal.
McGraw-Hill's Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions
See also:
  • rain stopped play
  • BIPOC
  • shell
  • et alibi
  • in/with reference to
  • shell an amount of money out
  • shell out
  • shell out an amount of money
  • war paint
  • blocking and tackling
References in periodicals archive
The Indians renewed a prior alliance, exchanged wampum belts and presents, and determined their next step.
In 1637, just months before declaring war, the English had adopted the use of wampum as legal tender.
In fact the colonists even used wampum among themselves due to the shortage of European money.
The Gus-Wen-Tah, or "Two-Row Wampum," was first negotiated between Dutch settlers and the nations of the Haudenosaunee confederacy.
Along with learning more about the Two Row Wampum belt, Her Honour, Lieutenant Governor of Ontario, Elizabeth Dowdeswell, arrived!
From day one, giant electrical towers looked like monstrous wampum men towering over our landscape.
Driskill describes three decolonial skillshares they regularly enact in their classroom: the teaching of indigenous language (for 10 to 20 minutes at the start of each class meeting); the weaving of wampum and the use of wampum records for a wampum recitation; and the weaving of baskets.
Tad Mcllwraith, professor of anthropology at the University of Guelph, points to the fact that Native American elders acknowledge the wampum belt as a shared cultural artifact that is as much a settler object as it is a Native American object (2016).
Where Chapter 1 sets the foundation and tone for the rest of the book, Chapter 2 discusses "the meaning of culture and traditions." Covering not only "ten thousand years of culture," but also a vast geography, and practices from potlatch through storytelling, to wampum belts and dance, Chapter 2 offers a beautifully presented celebration of the richness and diversity of Indigenous society.
A few of these include wampum belts, beads and treaties like the Royal
The Grand River can be engaged as a metaphor for the Two Row Wampum treaty agreements, which the Haudenausaunee have continually offered settlers since the first agreements with the Dutch in 1613, British in 1677, and even the French at the 1701 Great Peace of Montreal.
The first chapter, for example, discusses the transition of wampum from a ceremonial item used to build relationships among Native Americans to a currency shared by Europeans and Native Americans.
together is like the two-row wampum: two canoes going in the same
American Indian Culture: From Counting Coup to Wampum; 2 volume set
When the Two Row Wampum was created, it was understood that from time to time the two peoples would have need of one another as brothers.