(formerly) money used by Native Americans, made of cylindrical shells strung or woven together, esp white shells rather than the more valuable black or purple ones
2. US and Canadian informal
money or wealth
Also called: wampumpeag, peag, peage
Word origin
C17: short for wampumpeag, from Narraganset wampompeag, from wampan light + api string + -ag plural suffix
wampum in American English
(ˈwɑmpəm, ˈwɔm-)
noun
1. Also called: peag, seawan, sewan
cylindrical beads made from shells, pierced and strung, used by Native Americans as a medium of exchange, for ornaments, and for ceremonial and sometimes spiritual purposes, esp. such beads when white but also including the more valuable black or dark-purple varieties