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Definition of "pemmican" [pem•mi•can]

  • A food prepared by Native Americans from lean dried strips of meat pounded into paste, mixed with fat and berries, and pressed into small cakes. (noun)
  • A food made chiefly from beef, dried fruit, and suet, used as emergency rations. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Use "pemmican" in a sentence
  • "In Canada, we had pemmican, which is dried meat and fat mixed together, and buckwheat groats, which is sort of like a barley porridge."
  • "It is called pemmican, and sells here for twenty-five cents a pound."
  • "They also brought back pemmican, which is made by chopping buffalo meat very fine, and mixing it with the tallow from the animal."