Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A red clay-stone used by the North American Indians for making pipes.

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

  • noun A red clay from the Upper Missouri region, used by the Indians for their pipes.

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

  • noun A red clay from the Upper Missouri region, used by the natives for their pipes.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Catlin +‎ -ite, after George Catlin, an American traveller.

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Examples

  • The black stone pipes of the Cherokee were famous in the southern states, and the red stone pipe of catlinite from a single quarry in Minnesota was reputed sacred and was smoked at the ratification of all solemn tribal engagements throughout the plains and the lake-region.

    The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume 7: Gregory XII-Infallability 1840-1916 1913

  • The pictographic paintings comprised not only recognizable but even vigorous representations of men and animals, depicted in form and color though without perspective, while the calumet of catlinite was sometimes chiseled into striking verisimilitude of human and animal forms in miniature.

    The Siouan Indians 1882

  • Ceremonial objects were common, the most conspicuous being the calumet, carved out of the sacred pipestone or catlinite quarried for many generations in the midst of the Siouan territory.

    The Siouan Indians 1882

  • A catlinite pipestone bowl was found along the shore of the Chippewa River in Peru Township.

    unknown title 2009

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