Definition of "wampum" []

• Small cylindrical beads made from polished shells and fashioned into strings or belts, formerly used by certain Native American peoples as currency and jewelry or for ceremonial exchanges between groups. Also called peag. (noun)
• Informal Money. (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.

• "The shells of these clams are used by the Indians as money, and make what they call their wampum; they likewise serve their women for an ornament, when they intend to appear in full dress."
• "The shells of these clams are used by the Indians as money, and make what they call their wampum; they likewise serve their women for an ornament when they intend to appear in full dress."
• "The word wampum [wompam], [1] which has since become a general term, was restricted by the Indians to the white beads."