sagamore
UK /ˈsæɡəmɔː/ · US /ˈsæɡəˌmɔɹ/ noun, proper noun
Forms sagamores
- noun A chief of one or several Native American tribe(s), especially of the Algonquians.
- noun (informal, archaic) An eminent member of a group, or an eminent person in society.
- noun (politics) A high-ranking officer of the Tammany Hall political organization responsible for taking care of its property.
- proper noun A census-designated place in the town of Bourne, Barnstable County, Massachusetts.
- proper noun An unincorporated community in Cowanshannock Township, Armstrong County, Pennsylvania.
- proper noun An unincorporated community in Saltlick Township, Fayette County, Pennsylvania.
Synonyms
Etymology
From an Algonquian language; compare Abenaki sôgmô, sôgemô (“chief”), Mi'kmaq saqamaw (“chief”), and Penobscot sagama, sagema, sagemo, sangemo (“chief”), all ultimately from Proto-Algonquian *sa·kima·wa (“male chief”). Doublet of sachem.
Webster’s 1913
- 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. "Be it sagamore, sachem, or powwow." Longfellow.
- noun A juice used in medicine. [Obs.] Johnson.
Etymology [Cf. Sachem.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “sagamore”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details