Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A council or meeting with or of Native Americans.
- n. A Native American shaman.
- n. A ceremony conducted by a shaman, as in the performance of healing or hunting rituals.
- n. Informal A conference or gathering.
- v. Informal To hold a powwow.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. As applied to the North American aborigines: A priest; a conjurer.
- n. A conjuration performed for the cure of diseases.
- n. A dance, feast, or other public celebration preliminary to a grand hunt, a council, a war expedition, or some similar undertaking.
- n. Hence Any uproarious meeting or conference; a meeting where there is more noise than deliberation.
- As applied to the North American aborigines, to perform a ceremony with conjurations for the cure of diseases and for other purposes.
- Hence To hold a consultation; deliberate over events.
- To hold any noisy meeting.
Wiktionary
- n. A ritual conducted by a Native American shaman.
- n. A Native American shaman.
- n. A Native American council or meeting.
- n. informal A short, private conference.
- v. intransitive To hold a meeting; to gather together in council.
- v. intransitive To conduct a ritual in which magic is used.
- v. informal, intransitive To hold a private conference.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. A priest, or conjurer, among the North American Indians.
- n. 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.
- n. Archaic, formerly Colloq. U. S. Any assembly characterized by noise and confusion; a noisy frolic or gathering.
- n. Informal Any meeting assembled to discuss an issue; a parley.
- v. To use conjuration, with noise and confusion, for the cure of disease, etc., as among the North American Indians.
- v. Archaic, formerly Colloq. U. S. To hold a noisy, disorderly meeting.
- v. Informal To hold a meeting to discuss an issue.
WordNet 3.0
- v. hold a powwow, talk, conference or meeting
- n. a council of or with Native Americans
- n. (informal) a quick private conference
Etymologies
- From an Algonquian language, probably Massachusett pauwau or Narragansett powwaw "practitioner of magic, shaman", from Proto-Algonquian *pawe:wa (“one who dreams”). (Wiktionary)
- Narragansett powwaw, shaman. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“This powwow is also one that requires 1/4 native blood quantum (at least one full blooded indian grandparent) for dancers.”
“Turnbull didn’t look up from his newspaper when he said, “Some of us are offended by the use of the term powwow in that context.””
“Then she went on to say that all of this was, and is, a moot point because the powwow is not a city sponsored event.”
“The Midē´, in the true sense of the word, is a Shaman, though he has by various authors been termed powwow, medicine man, priest, seer, prophet, etc.”
“This is the 17th year UI has hosted the powwow, which is a celebration of American Indian culture through song and dance.”
“A powwow is a celebration that allows Native American people to get together and enjoy their culture and share it with others, too," said Theresa Heitz, a UI senior and co-chairwoman of the student association.”
“The powwow will be a combination of a contest and traditional powwow, Baker said.”
“The powwow is a sign of the Obama administration's recognition that cybersecurity is no longer merely an operational or technical issue.”
“The powwow is a historic celebration that brings many Native American tribes to annual event near Millsboro.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘powwow’.
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Reduples
Go for it, brothers and sisters! I personally have been suffering long for lack of an open reduplicatives list
happy clappy, bribble-brabble, diddle-daddle, hugger-mugger, kikiriki, Bora-Bora, mahi-mahi, jingle-jangle, knick-knack paddy..., chit-chat, bon-bon, clapperclaw and 292 more...
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US - realia
Words and expressions, people and cultural realia that foreigners associate with the United States
entrepreneurship, can-do-attitude, down-to-earth app..., multicultural soc..., melting pot, cast in the same ..., self-made man, rugged individualism, gap between rich ..., make money, people from all w..., giant with feet o... and 80 more...
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6-letter words with precisely 1,2, & ...
allele, anatta, arrear, bedded, bettee, cocoon, doodad, gaggee, googol, hubbub, hammam, hummum and 30 more...
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DAY5_01/08/2013
kowtow, powwow, junta, imbroglio, juggernaut, schadenfreude, amuck, pariah, nabob, bwana, zeitgeist, sangfroid and 6 more...
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I didn't expect to see THAT letter do...
aa, savvy, divvy, powwow, matchhead, skiing, hajj, trekking, continuum, vacuum, bathhouse, fishhook and 37 more...
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From the Algonquin et al.
Words derived from the innumerable languages of native Americans and the First Nations of Canada. I want to shine some light on this underexposed etymological background to so many common (and som...
raccoon, persimmon, mummichog, caucus, bayou, caribou, geoduck, chipmunk, skunk, opossum, moose, squash and 84 more...
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gre2
aberrant, aberration, aboveboard, abrasive, abstemious, acme, admonish, affable, affluent, alacrity, allegory, alleviate and 1824 more...
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magoosh1
aberration, aboveboard, abysmal, ace, affable, aghast, alacrity, ambiguous, ambivalent, ameliorate, amenable, amiable and 205 more...
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Congregation
Clusters, gatherings, and groups of humans.
alliance, circle, council, federation, fraternity, league, assembly, company, group, flock, crowd, mob and 99 more...
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Is it morning yet?
coterie, lexeme, counterbalance, forthright, pigtail, ponytail, french-braid, barrette, listless, counsel, sitting duck, dead duck and 268 more...
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word tank
a couple words
logolepsy, nefarious, quintessential, tintinnabulation, serendipity, rhapsody, palimpsest, panoply, mellifluous, imbue, loquacious, garrulous and 174 more...
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newGRE
mostly from magoosh
imbue, verge on, nonchalant, deliberate, timorous, futile, provisional, dissect, checked, tinged, alluring, visionary and 1046 more...
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My Revised GRE Preparation List
Words from the new GRE : This list consists mostly of words from the book Magoosh-GRE-vocab-ebook, which is one of the best vocab materials available, especially if you have started preparing one ...
alacrity, prosaic, veracity, paucity, contrite, trite, maintain, laconic, pugnacious, disparate, egregious, innocuous and 533 more...
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Revised GRE Wordlist_2013
Vocabulary building for my quest of GRE 2013
ephemeral, esoteric, rhetoric, censure, egregious, pittance, dupe, mulct, paucity, alacrity, maintain, laconic and 996 more...
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huck finnian
ain't, stretchers, without, sivilize, hogshead, victuals, bulrushers, tolerable, goggles, middling, reckoned, who-whooing and 287 more...
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Suchlongwordswithsomanyletters.
Hoarded.
chargoggagoggmanc..., aquaethylenediami..., taramasalata, palaeacanthocephala, tathagatagarbha, tarantarratara, adamantoblastomata, astragalocalcaneal, calcaneoastragalar, hubbubbubboo, flibbertigibbet, bubbybush and 330 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for powwow.

treeseed See also pow-wow Feb 19, 2008
reesetee Good grief, that show was hilarious! Almost as amusing as The Avengers. Aug 22, 2007
uselessness This word reminds me of the old Batman series with Adam West.
Biff! Kablammy! Aug 22, 2007
oroboros How do we powwow? Powwow doodle alla day. :o) Aug 22, 2007