squawn.
/skwɔː/, U.S. /skwɔ/, /skwɑ/ 1.
a. A North American Indian woman or wife. Now generally considered offensive.
(a) Used by people who are not North American Indian as a relatively neutral term, with no specifically disparaging implication. Now chiefly in historical use, esp. in historical and Western fiction portraying stereotypes of North American Indian people.Recorded earliest in squaw sachem n. at Compounds 2.
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society > society and the community > kinship or relationship > marriage or wedlock > married person > married woman > [noun] > native North American
squaw1622
1622 Relation Eng. Plantation Plimoth, New Eng. 57 Also the Squa Sachim, or Massachusets Queene was an enemy to him.
1631 J. Winthrop Jrnl. (1996) 47 Chickatabot came with his Sanopps and Squaes.
1634 W. Wood New Englands Prospect ii. xix. 97 If her husband come to seeke for his Squaw.
1672 J. Josselyn New-Englands Rarities 99 The Indian Squa, or Female Indian.
1701 C. Wooley Two Years Jrnl. N.-Y. 39 Their Squaws or Wives and Female Sex manage their Harvest.
1756 G. Washington Let. 19 Dec. in Writings (1931) I. 526 Captn. Pearis came to town the other day with six Cherokees and two squaws.
1836 C. P. Traill Backwoods of Canada 160 The Indians are very expert in..fishing; the squaws paddling the canoes with admirable skill.
1877 G. Gibbs Tribes W. Washington in Contrib. N. Amer. Ethnol. I. ii. 193 The prairies are dotted over with squaws, each armed with a sharp stake and a basket.
1939 L. G. Salverson Confessions of Immigrant's Daughter i. xiii. 158 The young squaw massaged my frozen feet with a mixture of bear's grease and some sort of herb.
1992 G. W. Proctor Comes the Hunter xiii. 101 Comanches—everywhere the rancher looked were braves, squaws, and children moving amid the city of stretched-leather cones.
2013 Transition 112 41/1 Westerns depicted Native Americans in narrow roles limited to clichés such as noble savage, ignoble savage or warrior, and exotic ‘squaw’.
(b) Used by people who are not North American Indian as a depreciative or disparaging term of abuse or contempt.
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1849 J. B. Jones Wild Western Scenes (new ed.) xvi. 237 ‘Was there nothing running after me but this squaw?’..‘Oh, don't call her a squaw, Joe—she's more like an angel than a squaw’.
1893 Dominion Illustr. Monthly Feb. 24/2 They will tell us..that you are not my husband, that you are but disgracing and dishonoring me—that you are keeping me here, not as your wife, but as your—your—squaw.
1939 P. Stong Long Lane iii. ii. 278 The women—you didn't call them squaws unless they were dirty or lazy—tramped up for water from the camp along the river.
1964 R. H. Wax et al. Dropout of Amer. Indians at Secondary Level vii. 45 in Indian Educ.: Hearings before Special Subcomm.: Pt. 3 (1969) (90th Congr., 1st & 2nd Sess.) 1505 They may, like pretty Anna Louise, be hounded out of school by a clique of experienced rivals, who call her ‘squaw’ and ‘make fun of her’ at every opportunity.
1990 M. Crow Dog & R. Erdoes Lakota Woman (1991) v. 70 He was grinning. ‘I don't apologize to her kind ever. She's nothing but a squaw.’
2014 L. S. Clare Sky without Stars (e-book ed.) Don't have nothing to let. And if I did, I wouldn't rent to a squaw like you.
b. In representations of North American Indian speech: a woman or wife. Now generally considered offensive. Now chiefly in historical and Western fiction portraying stereotypes of North American Indian people.
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the world > people > ethnicities > division of mankind by physical characteristics > white person > [noun] > white woman
squaw1642
memsahib1832
inkosikazi1835
pink toe1930
gringa1956
1642 T. Lechford Plain Dealing 49 And when they [sc. Indians] see any of our English women sewing with their needles, or working coifes, or such things, they will crie out, Lazie squaes!
1654 E. Johnson Hist. New-Eng. ii. vi. 114 The men were smitten down, and slaine, as they came forth with a great slaughter, the Sqawes crying out, oh much winn it English-man, who moved with pitty toward them, saved their lives: and hereupon some young youth cryed, I squaw, I squaw, thinking to finde the like mercy.
1725 S. Willard Jrnl. in Appalachia (1881) II. 342 Our Indian said there was Squaws as well as Sannups.
1785 C. Horn in W. F. Horn Horn Papers (1945) I. 224 No sounds approach me, but Bowlegs say he hears ‘The Warriors sing big,’ and the ‘squaws and childs make big howl’.
1833 J. G. Whittier in New-Eng. Mag. Feb. 129 My squaws have fine mat—big wigwam—soft samp.
1867 Condition Indian Tribes App. 386 in Rep. Comm. Senate (39th Congress, 2nd Sess.: Senate Rep. 156) My young men, squaws and children are starving; the black spots you see on the hills before you are the graves of many of my people.
1917 M. MacMillian Pioneers iv, in More Short Plays 161 Young white squaw no wise. She no see.
1981 L. F. James Revenge of Hawk xviii. 168 This is Corigay, my squaw, and our firstborn, Nemigda. She is the daughter of the chief of the Mescalero, and I took her into my wickiup as my squaw twelve moons ago as a pact of peace between our tribes.
2007 G. Morris Man for Temperance iii. xviii. 244 Black Eagle looked at her... ‘He says he wants you for his squaw.’
c. slang. In non-North American Indian contexts: a woman or wife.
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society > society and the community > kinship or relationship > marriage or wedlock > married person > married woman > [noun] > wife
wifeeOE
womanc1275
peerc1330
spousessc1384
ladyc1390
good lady1502
girl?a1513
spousage1513
little lady1523
the weaker vessel1526
companion1535
wedlock1566
Mrs1572
dame1574
rib?1590
feme1595
fathom1602
feme covert1602
shrew1606
wife of one's bosom1611
kickie-wickiea1616
heifer1616
sposa1624
bosom-partner1633
goodwife1654
little woman1715
squaw1767
the Mrs1821
missus1823
maw1826
lady wife1840
tart1864
mistress1873
mama1916
ball and chain1921
trouble and strife1929
old boot1958
1767 I. Bickerstaff Love in City ii. xi. 42 What, to take the squaw from the young grocer?
1823 Ld. Byron Don Juan: Canto XIII lxxix. 94 Mrs. Rabbi, the rich banker's squaw.
1841 W. J. Neale Paul Periwinkle ii. xvii. 344 Look at that, you young she-lubber,..suppose the ship is on fire, you young squaw, do you think you can put it out by spilling my glass of hot grog on the decks.
1908 B. Fisher A. Mutt (1977) 149 If my squaw finds out that the bankroll is shy 20 bones she'll bounce all the crockery off my knob.
1936 E. Hemingway Let. 12 Apr. in Sel. Lett. (1981) 447 Jack Coles is here with his new squaw who looks something like one of these new style wrestlers.
1977 ‘J. le Carré’ Honourable Schoolboy 282 A herd of diplomats, businessmen, and their squaws shuffled into the lobby.
2007 C. D. Heymann Amer. Legacy iii. 63 She wasn't your run-of-the-mill politician's squaw.
2. depreciative. In extended use: an effeminate or weak man. Now rare.
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the world > people > person > man > [noun] > effeminate man
badlingeOE
milksopc1390
cockneyc1405
malkina1425
molla1425
weakling1526
tenderling1541
softling1543
niceling1549
woman-man1567
cocknel1570
effeminate1583
androgyne1587
meacock1590
mammaday1593
hermaphrodite1594
midwife1596
nimfadoro1600
night-sneaker1611
mock-mana1625
nan1670
she-man1675
petit maître1711
old woman1717
master-miss1754
Miss Molly1754
molly1785
squaw1805
mollycoddle1823
Miss Nancy1824
mollycot1826
molly mop1829
poof1833
Margery?c1855
ladyboy1857
girl1862
Mary Ann1868
sissy1879
milk1881
pretty-boy1881
nancy1888
poofter1889
Nancy Dawson1890
softie1895
puff1902
pussy1904
Lizzie1905
nance1910
quean1910
maricon1921
pie-face1922
bitch1923
Jessie1923
lily1923
tapette1923
pansy1926
nancy boy1927
nelly1931
femme1932
ponce1932
queerie1933
palone1934
queenie1935
girlie-man1940
swish1941
puss1942
wonk1945
mother1947
candy-ass1953
twink1953
cream puff1958
pronk1959
swishy1959
limp wrist1960
pansy-ass1963
weeny1963
poofteroo1966
mo1968
shim1973
twinkie1977
woofter1977
cake boy1992
hermaphrodite-
1805 Z. M. Pike Jrnl. 14 Sept. in Acct. Exped. Sources Mississippi (1810) i. 20 I directed my interpreter to ask how many scalps they had taken, they replied ‘none’; he added they were all squaws, for which I reprimanded him.
a1879 F. Browne Martha's Vineyard in Sunday at Home (1880) 148/1 My uncle's a squaw; he was born an Indian sachem, but the Christians have made him a squaw; they turn warriors to women.
1891 A. Welcker Tales Wild West 24 By way of expressing their utter contempt for him they called him a ‘squaw’.
1936 A. Sperry Wagons Westward xiii. 196 ‘Listen, you two,’ he grated. ‘Stay out here and fight like men. You squaw!’
1974 W. M. James Apache: First Death x. 154 White Dog sneered as he addressed Soft Tongue. ‘He is a squaw. He has no stomach for killing’.
Compounds
C1. attributive, designating a North American Indian woman, as squaw mistress, squaw wife, etc. Now generally considered offensive.
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1707 C. Mather Memorial Depolorable State of New-Eng. 35 She sent then unto a French Priest, that he would speak unto her Squa Mistress.
1809 Monthly Anthol. & Boston Rev. June 408 At their first winter encampment on the Missouri, the squaw wife to their interpreter brought them a papoose.
1858 E. D. Neill Hist. Minnesota xii. 233 His party consisted of his squaw mistress, Perrault, and fourteen employees.
1920 M. Hoskin Little Green Glove & Other Stories 210 Her lovely tresses, darkened and plastered down with grease by her squaw mother.
1994 Guardian 3 Aug. ii. 9/2 White stockings for the squaw wives of mountain men.
C2.
squaw-axe n. now chiefly historical a small axe or hatchet.
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1804 J. Ordway Jrnl. 29 Dec. in Jrnls. Lewis & Clark Exped. (1995) IX. 106 They Brought their Squaw axes & kittle to fix and mend.
1921 C. Lockhart Dude Wrangler vii. 56 You can git the squaw-axe and hack out a place fer a bed-ground.
1988 H. K. McEvoy Knife & Tomahawk Throwing vi. 112 There are four main types of tomahawks used most often today in muzzleloading and other forms of competition. These are the spike tomahawk, the pipe tomahawk, the hammer poll, and the ‘squaw-axe’.
squaw boot n. a soft rawhide or suede boot usually decorated on the upper with fringing, embroidery, or bead-work.
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the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > types or styles of clothing > footwear > shoe or boot > boot > [noun] > reaching to below knee
bootingc1300
sabatinec1460
brodequin1481
buskin1503
bottine?a1513
Russian boot1781
half-boot1787
Wellington1816
blucher1833
squaw boot1942
1942 Vogue Jan. 16 n/3 Squaw Boots. These mediæval-looking deerskin moccasins are made for the Shoshoni Trading Post..by Idaho Indians.
1968 Chicago Daily Defender 28 Feb. 21/2 Squaw boots with fringed leather tops.
2002 Times 16 Feb. (Women's Fashion Special) 29 Black lace-up fringe squaw boots, £75.
squaw bread n. a type of bread that is fried or (more traditionally) baked in a thin cake over a campfire.
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1879 in Friend (1905) 1 July 406/3 They did not have their corn ground by grist mills but the women pounded them with a mortar and pestle and made squaw bread.
1888 J. D. Butler in Rep. & Coll. State Hist. Soc. Wisconsin 1883–85 10 86 Having lodged and eaten muskrat and squaw-bread at a French trader's on First Lake, they pushed on north.
1994 Herald (Glasgow) (Nexis) 4 Jan. 11 It [sc. the hogun] had an earthen floor and I made ‘squaw bread’ outside... It was a crude existence.
2014 A. Kane United States of Bread 37 Squaw bread became a specialty at bakeries and restaurants throughout southern California in the 1970s for its subtle sweetness and whole grain goodness.
squaw candy n. colloquial (a name for) hard strips of smoked salmon.
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1943 N.Y. Times 29 July 15/4 Salmon, which will then be cured into what the Aleuts call ‘squaw candy’. It is a cross between pemmican, dead fish and a Virginia ham.
1958 K. Nelson & C. Ford Klondy viii. 127 He..yanked a thin, oily strip of smoked salmon from the ridgepole... ‘Here, by God, have some squaw candy.’
2008 Times 2 Feb. (Travel section) 16/3 We..picnicked on wild cranberries and salmon jerky smoked by Jeannie in her backyard (she called it ‘squaw candy’).
squaw dance n. (with reference to the practices of the Navajo and indigenous peoples inhabiting the interior plains of North America) a ceremonial or social dance, esp. one where women choose their dancing partners.
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1817 J. Bradbury Trav. Amer. 144 This morning I was informed by Jussum that the squaw dance would be performed in the afternoon.
1894 Outing May 83/1 The short, choppy stepping of most squaw dances elsewhere.
1938 Desert Mag. May 10/1 Two Navajo girls..in their full calico skirts and velvet blouses... They were going to the Squaw Dance in full swing just around the hill.
2008 P. G. Allen in H. D. S. Wong et al. Reckonings 16 There's a squaw dance beneath the wheeling stars and the fires burn around the dance ground.
squaw hitch n. a type of knot used to secure a pack to the back of a horse or other pack animal.
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1879 Salt Lake Daily Tribune 22 Mar. When the packs have been lashed on by the squaw hitch and the prospectors have started on their journey.
1903 A. Adams Log of Cowboy iii. 32 He showed me what he called a squaw hitch, with which you can lash a pack single-handed.
2004 Economist 18 Dec. 92/2 Any American packer knows how to tie a ‘squaw hitch’ or how to turn a pack horse into a draught horse by means of a quick travois.
squaw horse n. now historical (a) (in representations of pidgin English) a female horse; (b) a horse used for carrying packs, pulling travois (cf. travois n.), etc., rather than for hunting or warfare.
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the world > animals > mammals > group Ungulata (hoofed) > family Equidae (general equines) > horse defined by gender or age > [noun] > female
squaw horse1634
1634 W. Wood New Englands Prospect ii. xv. 89 They posted to the English to tell them how the case stood or hung with their squaw horse.
1848 S. P. Hildreth Pioneer Hist. xx. 426 This one the Indians called ‘a squaw horse’, not knowing the English word for a female.
1903 Scribner's Mag. Oct. 472/2 It was better than being a squaw-horse, dragging a lot of laden poles about.
1973 H. McCracken Amer. Cowboy vi. 60 They [sc. the Indians] had squaw horses for pulling travois to move camp, and buffalo horses and war horses.
2008 J. Logan Slocum & Tomboy xxi. 165 Best gawdamn squaw horse in the whole country.
squaw man n. now historical a non-North American Indian man married to or cohabiting with a North American Indian woman.
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society > society and the community > kinship or relationship > marriage or wedlock > married person > married man > [noun] > married to native North American
squaw man1856
1856 Harper's Mag. Sept. 525/1 The white women were awfully severe upon the five poor squaws who had come to the fort with their mining protectors, who were contemptuously styled ‘squaw-men’.
1938 L. V. Armstrong We too are People vii. 214 This squaw and the blond squaw-man had a baby who was beyond question one of the most beautiful children I have ever seen.
2007 USA Today (Soc. Advancem. Educ.) July 54/1 Carson married an Arapaho woman named Waa-nibe (Singing Grass) and became, as did many other mountain men, a ‘squaw man’.
squaw sachem n. [ < Pidgin Massachusett, translating the elements of Massachusett sonksq queen, lit. ‘sachem woman’ (see sunk squaw n.)] now historical (among the Algonquian peoples of southern New England) a queen or female chief ruling in her own right, or the wife of a sachem or chief (cf. sunk squaw n.).
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society > authority > rule or government > rule or government of family or tribe > head of family, tribe, or clan > [noun] > native American > female
squaw sachem1622
sunk squaw1661
1622 Relation Eng. Plantation Plimoth, New Eng. 57 Also the Squa Sachim, or Massachusets Queene was an enemy to him.
1716 B. Church Entertaining Passages Philip's War i. 2 Among the rest he sent Six Men to Awashonks Squaw-Sachem of the Sogkonate Indians, to engage her in his Interests.
1883 Harper's Mag. June 23/1 The Indian came with his whole train of warriors and women, including his queen, the celebrated ‘squaw sachem’ Weetamo.
2017 Telegram & Gaz. (Mass.) (Nexis) 10 June a8 The late Zara Cisco Brough.., who called herself Princess White Flower, presented herself as a hereditary squaw sachem when she promoted tribal status for the Nipmucs.
squaw winter n. [probably after Indian summer n.] now historical a short period of wintry weather occurring in autumn in the northern United States and Canada, esp. one preceding an Indian summer.
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the world > time > period > year > season > [noun] > periods of unseasonal weather
Michaelmas spring1557
All-Hallown Summer1598
St Martin's Summera1616
autumn-spring1639
go-summer1649
Indian summer1790
squaw winter1847
All Saints' Summer1861
Martin's summer1864
Martinmas summer1881
1847 Zion's Herald & Wesleyan Jrnl. 2 June 86/4 It was customary..for the settlers, at the commencement of the squaw winter, to turn out in companies of thirty or forty men, and hunt bears.
1871 Lakeside Monthly July 4/2 Those single-minded, grand old fellows..kicked the light snow of ‘squaw winter’ from their Spanish-leather boots.
1992 F. Manfred Of Lizards & Angels ii. xxii. 192 Looking out the kitchen window..Thea saw it was snowing. So early in the fall? Goodness, it meant they were going to have a spell of squaw winter.
squaw wood n. firewood or fuel that is easy to gather, such as small sticks, dead branches, etc.
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society > occupation and work > materials > fuel > other organic fuels > [noun] > dung
casard1499
casing1516
sharny-peat1808
dung cake1824
buffalo-chips1840
mist1852
argol1856
prairie coal1889
cattle chips1903
squaw wood1914
1914 Outing June 191/2 The cooking fire is only the beginning of the possibilities of ‘squaw wood’.
1968 C. Helmericks Down Wild River North i. vi. 100 Anything is squaw wood that you don't have to chop.
2013 S. B. Williams Darkness After viii. 99 Mitch showed April the old Indian trick of collecting ‘squaw wood’, the smaller dead branches still attached to the lower reaches of standing live trees.
C3. Chiefly North American. In names of plants and animals traditionally used by North American Indians as a source of food, medicine, etc.Cf. oldsquaw n. at old adj. Compounds 4.† squaw whortleberry n. Obsolete deerberry, Vaccinium stamineum.
squawberry n. any of several shrubs having edible berries; esp. deerberry, Vaccinium stamineum, and partridgeberry, Mitchella repens; (also) the fruit of such a shrub.
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the world > food and drink > food > fruit and vegetables > fruit or a fruit > berry > [noun] > other berries
hedge-berry1607
elderberry1625
ramble-berry1658
cloudberry1743
Indian pear1796
bluet1812
squawberry1829
pigface1830
wax-berry1835
quandong1836
strawberry guava1901
bead-berry1923
squash-berry1935
the world > plants > particular plants > cultivated or valued plants > particular food plant or plant product > particular types of fruit > [noun] > edible berries > other berries
blueberry1594
hedge-berry1607
elderberry1625
huckleberry1670
bearberry1677
cloudberry1743
baked apple1750
pembina1760
service1785
honeyberry1787
nub-berry1794
bluet1812
noop1817
squawberry1829
quandong1836
miro1838
strawberry guava1901
squash-berry1935
tayberry1977
tummelberry1984
1829 C. Dewey in D. D. Field Hist. County Berks., Mass. i. 63 Mitchella..repens. Squaw-berry. June. Moist woods.
1852 Anglo-Amer. Mag. 1 418/2 The partridge leads her young brood forth to feed upon the soft luscious fruits of the huckleberry and squaw-berry.
1884 M. G. C. Hall Lady's Life on Farm in Manitoba 162 We have had jelly made of squawberries.
1956 V. Fisher Pemmican (1957) 161 Dried elderberry, or squawberry or wild currant he did not care for.
2012 S. S. Weeks & H. P. Weeks Shrubs & Woody Vines Indiana & Midwest 246 (heading) Deerberry, squawberry Vaccinium stamineum L.
squawbush n. any of various shrubs; esp. highbush cranberry, Viburnum trilobum, and skunkbush, Rhus trilobata.
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1832 W. D. Williamson Hist. Maine I. 125 Indian Tobacco, called by the Natives ‘Squaw-bush’, is a perennial herb, or shrub; the bark of which they scrape off, mix with their tobacco, and smoke it.
1852 Deseret News (Great Salt Lake City, Utah Territory) 4 Sept. Squaw-bush..grows in great abundance in these valleys;..we will pay a reasonable price for a large amount of it.
1884 St. Louis Med. Jrnl. 9 479 Viburnum Opulus..is commonly known by the names of ‘high cranberry’, ‘cramp bark’, ‘squaw bush’.
1935 C. Woods Buckaroo Clan Montana xxi. 192 He left his horse hidden in a bunch of squaw-bushes.
1997 Fieldiana: Anthropol. 28 5/1 Squawbush (Rhus trilobata) was the preferred material for making all kinds of baskets and trays.
2001 R. Adkison Utah's National Parks 67/2 In autumn these hills are brilliantly colored with the golds of oaks and the reds of squawbush.
squaw corn n. any of several varieties of maize, typically ones having soft grains of various colours; cf. soft corn n.2 1.
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the world > food and drink > food > corn, cereals, or grain > [noun] > maize > types of
flint corn1705
soft corn1751
flint1802
squaw corn1823
tassel-corn1883
the world > plants > particular plants > cultivated or valued plants > particular food plant or plant product > cereal, corn, or grain > [noun] > maize > types of
green cornc1450
flint corn1705
flint1802
sweet corna1817
squaw corn1823
dent corn1853
tassel-corn1883
country gentleman1892
1823 Amer. Farmer 4 Apr. 16/2 An ear of Indian Squaw Corn,..raised by the Waugh-paugh-connetta Tribe.
1912 E. P. Stewart Let. Feb. in Lett. Woman Homesteader (1914) 151 They had a small patch of land..on which was raised the squaw corn that hung in bunches from the rafters.
1975 Daily Colonist (Victoria, Brit. Columbia) 5 Oct. 22/5 Nowadays, squaw corn is grown purely for its highly ornamental, variegated ears with kernels in purple, mauve, red, yellow, cream and black, very nice for Thanksgiving..displays.
2016 D. Clemons Culinary Hist. S. Delaware iv. 49 One of the oldest types is flour corn, grown by Native Americans and also called soft or squaw corn.
squawfish n. †(a) a marine fish (not identified) (obsolete rare); (b) any of several freshwater cyprinid fishes comprising the genus Ptychocheilus, native to the western United States and having an elongated head and body; also with distinguishing word.The preferred common name is now pikeminnow.Colorado squawfish: see the first element.
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the world > animals > fish > class Osteichthyes or Teleostomi > order Salmoniformes (salmon or trout) > superorder Ostariophysi or order Cypriniformes > [noun] > suborder Cyprinoidei > unspecified and miscellaneous type
roach1637
roughhead1818
beardy1825
shiner1836
squawfish1871
mountain-barbel1880
1871 Daily Evening Bull. (San Francisco) 13 Oct. The ocean furnishes salmon, squaw fish, red fish, and occasionally a cod fish, all the year around.
1877 Daily Rocky Mountain News (Denver) 4 Sept. We learned next day that the latter [variety of fish] are called squaw-fish and that they are very full of bones.
1966 Copeia No. 3 614/2 Fish..taken from this pond during the study period included..several northern squawfish (Ptychocheilus oregonensis).
2005 Chron.-Telegram (Elyria, Ohio) 2 Apr. e5 In Colorado, the endangered squawfish is now the Colorado pikeminnow.
squaw grass n. a tall rhizomatous perennial plant native to western North America, Xerophyllum tenax (family Melanthiaceae), having racemes of white flowers and fibrous leaves traditionally used by North American Indians in basketry.
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1887 Suppl. Rep. Board of Regents (Univ. of Calif. Coll. Agric.) 51 Reference is also made to a tract of ‘high, rolling land; soil, sand and light adobe, with a heavy growth of squaw grass’.
1950 W. O. Douglas Of Men & Mountains vi. 73 The squawgrass grows in great patches here. Its creamy blossoms make even deeper the rich green of the balsam fir.
2015 G. Westfahl Day Working Life I. 527/2 Elsewhere, basket weavers utilized squaw grass, roots, and bark from spruce, oak, and cedar trees.
squaw huckleberry n. deerberry, Vaccinium stamineum; (also) the fruit of this plant.
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1837 W. Darlington Flora Cestrica (ed. 2) 255 V[accinium] stamineum... Stamineous Vaccinium. Vulgò—Squaw Huckleberry. Deerberry.
1943 M. L. Fernald & A. C. Kinsey Edible Wild Plants Eastern N. Amer. i. 30 The Squaw-Huckleberry when properly cooked and sweetened makes a sauce as delicious as good old-fashioned gooseberry-sauce.
2016 Bee Culture July 58/2 Typically two to four feet in height and three feet across, squaw-huckleberry occasionally reaches 10 feet or so.
squawroot n. any of various plants having roots used medicinally; esp. cancer root, Conopholis americana; (also) a medicinal preparation of such a plant.
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1740 J. Dickinson Observ. Throat-distemper Postscript He has found out a Method of Cure, which seldom fails of Success..and that is a Decoction of the Root of the Dart Weed, or (as it is here called) the Squaw-Root.
1830 S. North Family Physician lxxxii. 261 Black Snake-root, Rich weed, Rattle weed, Squaw-root, (Actæa Racemosa.)... The root of this plant is astringent, and is much employed by the Indians in rheumatisms.
1848 A. Gray Man. Bot. Northern U.S. 290 Conopholis. Squaw-root. Cancer-root.
1909 Househ. Jrnl. Mar. 35 (advt.) Squaw root for suffering women... It is designed to radically cure diseases peculiar to women.
1981 V. Kulvinskas et al. Life in 21st Cent. iii. 249 Squaw Root (Caulophyllum Thalictrodides)—Found: N. America (Chippewa). Use: Strong decoction of 5-30g. powdered root taken to expedite parturition and menstruation.
2012 C. Gracie Spring Wildflowers Northeast 173/1 Squawroot is an odd plant: lacking chlorophyll and true leaves..it is thus unable to produce its own food.
squaw vine n. partridgeberry, Mitchella repens.
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1830 E. Smith Bot. Physician 492 Partridge Berry... Also called, squaw vine... The squaws drank it in decoction for two or three weeks previous to, and during delivery, and it..rendered that generally dreaded event, so remarkably safe and easy with them.
1909 A. Henkel Amer. Medicinal Leaves & Herbs (Bull. U.S. Dept. Agric., Bureau Plant Industry, no. 219 34 (caption) Squaw vine (Mitchella repens), leaves and fruits.
1976 Syracuse (N.Y.) Herald-Amer. 16 May (Stars section) 3 Squaw vine tea to perk you up. High bush cranberries to help you relax.
2016 A. Chevallier Encycl. Herbal Med. (ed. 3) 236/1 Squaw vine is still extensively used to aid labor and childbirth.
squaw weed n. any of several flowering plants traditionally used medicinally by North American Indians; esp. golden ragwort, Packera aurea.
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1811–12 W. J. Titford Sketches Hortus Botanicus Americanus 74 Black Snake Root, Acta Racemosa. N. O. Multisiliquæ; nat. North America: called also Squaw Weed, Rich Weed, and Rattle Weed.
1859 W. Darlington & G. Thurber Amer. Weeds & Useful Plants 193 The var. obovatus (called ‘Squaw-weed’) has been denounced..as being poisonous to sheep.
1930 F. Woodhull in J. F. Dobie Man, Bird & Beast (1965) 52 Indians used tea from the roots of the squaw-weed, or frostweed, for relieving cramps, as well as for chills and fever.
1973 Derrick (Oil City, Pa.) 25 May 17 (caption) Swaths of Golden Ragwort (Squaw Weed) are now in peak bloom.
2003 Horticulture Mar. 32/2 Native ragwort, groundsel, or squaw weed is one tough plant that easily takes Oklahoma's summer heat.
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1818 A. Eaton Man. Bot. (ed. 2) ii. 482 Vaccinium..stamineum (squaw whortleberry..).
1855 C. A. Harris Dict. Med. Terminol., Dental Surg., & Collateral Sci. (ed. 2) 776/1 Vaccinium Stamineum. Deerberry; squaw whortleberry; a plant the leaves of which possess astringent properties.
1875 E. Tuckerman & C. C. Frost Catal. Plants Thirty Miles Amherst Coll. 19 Vaccinium..stamineum, L. Squaw Whortleberry.
Derivatives
squawed adj. U.S. slang rare (now historical) married, esp. to a North American Indian woman.
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society > society and the community > kinship or relationship > marriage or wedlock > married person > married man > [adjective] > to a squaw
squawed1904
1904 E. Robins Magn. North xix. 324 The old miners had nearly all got ‘squawed’.
1995 D. C. Jones Shadow of Moon v. xxii. 446 Son, you'll get squawed yourself good and proper.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2019; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
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