poundmaker

English

Etymology

From pound (“animal pound”) +‎ maker. From translation of the Plains Amerind terms.

Noun

poundmaker (plural poundmakers)

1. (Canada, US, Amerind culture) One who makes buffalo pounds.
   • 1973, Thomas F. Kehoe, The Gull Lake Site: A Prehistoric Bison Drive Site in Southwestern Saskatchewan:

     A number of poundmakers have entered tribal history; their names are known and their deeds recounted. Such poundmakers include Loud Voice of the Plains Cree (Skinner 1914:525), and White Raven of the Assiniboin (Weekes 1948:16).

   • 1994, Katherine Pettipas, Severing the Ties That Bind: Government Repression of Indigenous Religious Ceremonies on the Prairies:

     Specialists known as poundmakers supervised the construction of a pound and possessed spiritual powers that enabled them to "call a herd" in for the kill.

   • 2016, Janet Louise Swoboda Lunn, The Story of Canada:

     The best poundmakers in the band have done their work.

Derived terms

• Poundmaker (proper noun)

Translations

Translations

• Plains Cree: pitikwahanapiwiyin

See also

• buffalo pound on Wikipedia.Wikipedia