Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A male shaman or shamanistic healer, especially among Native American peoples.
  • noun A hawker of nostrums among the audience in a medicine show.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun Among American Indians and other savage races, a man supposed to possess mysterious or supernatural powers: a name used in English to translate various native names.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A Native American shamanistic healer.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a Native American shaman

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Probably a calque of Ojibwe mashkikiiwinini ("doctor"), from mashkiki ("medicine") + inini ("man").

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