Definitions

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • proper noun plural (Ethnol.) A tribe of Indians (called also Loups) who formerly occupied the region of the Platte river, but now (1890) live mostly in the Indian Territory (Oklahoma). The term is often used in a wider sense to include also the related tribes of Rickarees and Wichitas. Called also Pani.

Etymologies

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Examples

  • The Pawnees are a roving tribe, in the region of the Platte and Kansas

    The Trail Book Mary Hunter Austin 1901

  • In the days when the Santa Fe trade was at its height, the Pawnees were the most formidable tribe on the eastern central plains, and the freighters and trappers rarely escaped a skirmish with them either at the crossing of the Walnut, Pawnee Rock, the Fork of the

    The old Santa Fe trail The Story of a Great Highway Henry Inman 1868

  • The Pawnees were the next considerable tribe on the Salt Lake Trail, west of the Otoes.

    The Great Salt Lake Trail Henry Inman 1868

  • Several years ago, the Pawnees were a numerous and powerful nation, possessing an extensive territory, and occupying five large towns, viz: one upon the Republican branch of the Kansas river, one at the forks of the

    ROCKY MOUNTAIN LIFE 1841

  • The Pawnees are a very powerful and warlike nation, living on the river Platte, about one hundred miles from its junction with the Missouri; laying claim to, and exercising sway over, the whole country, from its mouth to the base of the Rocky Mountains.

    Letters and notes on the manners, customs, and conditions of the North American Indians 1841

  • "If the Pawnees are the owners of this land, then white and red are here by equal right."

    The Prairie James Fenimore Cooper 1820

  • The space between the mountains and the river, on each side of the village, was thickly planted with close ranks of prickly pear, impassable to man or beast, so that the only way in which the Pawnees could be attacked was in front, by forcing a passage across the river, which could not be effected without a great loss of life, as the Pawnees are a brave people and well supplied with rifles, although in their prairie hunts they prefer to use their lances and their arrows.

    Travels and Adventures of Monsieur Violet Frederick Marryat 1820

  • a passage across the river, which could not be effected without a great loss of life, as the Pawnees are a brave people and well supplied with rifles, although in their prairie hunts they prefer to use their lances and their arrows.

    Monsieur Violet Frederick Marryat 1820

  • "The Pawnees are a wise and a great people, and I'll engage they abound in many a wholesome and honest tradition.

    The Prairie James Fenimore Cooper 1820

  • Having gained possession of the southern Plains the Comanches fought to preserve their conquest, not only from the Spanish but also from Pawnees, Arapahoes, Osages, Kiowas, Naishans, Wichitas, and Navajos.

    Between War and Peace Col. Matthew Moten 2011

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