Definitions

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

  • noun A subordinate chief among the Algonquians of North America.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A king or chief among some tribes of American Indians.

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

  • noun The head of a tribe among the American Indians; a chief; -- generally used as synonymous with sachem, but some writters distinguished between them, making the sachem a chief of the first rank, and a sagamore one of the second rank.
  • noun obsolete A juice used in medicine.

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

  • noun A chief of several Native American tribes, especially of the Algonquians.
  • noun obsolete A juice used in medicine.

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

  • noun a chief of a North American tribe or confederation (especially an Algonquian chief)

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Eastern Abenaki sα`kəmα.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

First attested in the 1610s–1620s. From an Algonquian language; compare Abenaki sôgmô ("chief"), Penobscot sagama, sagema, sagemo, sangemo ("chief"), Mi'kmaq saqamaw ("chief").

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Examples

  • In a subsequent mission for Governor William Bradford that summer, Squanto was captured by Wampanoag while gathering intelligence on the renegade sagamore, Corbitant, at the village of Nemasket site of present-day Middleborough, Massachusetts.

    Archive 2009-11-22 Toby O'B 2009

  • In a subsequent mission for Governor William Bradford that summer, Squanto was captured by Wampanoag while gathering intelligence on the renegade sagamore, Corbitant, at the village of Nemasket site of present-day Middleborough, Massachusetts.

    AS SEEN ON TV: SQUANTO Toby O'B 2009

  • He talked with the sagamore Anadabijou about their values and beliefs, and his judgments were complex.

    Champlain's Dream David Hackett Fischer 2008

  • After the Algonquin women finished their dance, a sagamore of the Algonquin, who was called Bessouat or Tessouat, rose and said: See how we rejoice in the victory we have won over our enemies.

    Champlain's Dream David Hackett Fischer 2008

  • The woman of Panounias talked with him, and the sagamore “made a speech, in which he expressed pleasure at seeing us, desired to have an alliance with us,” and promised to send word to Indian leaders named Marchin and Sasinou, whom he called “chief of the Kennebec.”

    Champlain's Dream David Hackett Fischer 2008

  • He tried to persuade the sagamore that the Christian faith and the Catholic religion were more true and more universal, apparently with no success.62

    Champlain's Dream David Hackett Fischer 2008

  • At first light, the grand sagamore emerged from his lodge and ran shouting through the sleeping camp.

    Champlain's Dream David Hackett Fischer 2008

  • On the coast of Maine, Champdoré also met a new generation of Indian leaders, in particular the Penobscot sagamore Asticou, “a man of weight and fine presence” who summered on Mount Desert Island.

    Champlain's Dream David Hackett Fischer 2008

  • More Indians arrived, a band of thirty and then the sagamore Bessabez, a leading presence in the region.

    Champlain's Dream David Hackett Fischer 2008

  • As for sagamore Membertou and other chiefs who came from time to time, they sat at table, eating and drinking like ourselves.

    Champlain's Dream David Hackett Fischer 2008

Comments

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  • take me to your sagamore!

    September 23, 2009