From the Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd Edition squaw squaw skwo(hook), sb. (and a.). Also 7-9 squa, 8 squaa. [a. Narragansett Indian squaws, Massachusetts squa, woman, with related forms in many other Algonquin dialects. ] 1. a. A North American Indian woman or wife. * 1634 W. Wood New England's Prosp. ii. xix, If her husband come to seeke for his Squaw. * 1652 J. Wilson in Progr. Gosp. among Indians 18 The Saneps or men by themselves, and the Squaes or women by themselves. * 1672 Josselyn New Eng. Rarities 99 The Indian Squa, or Female Indian. * 1701 Wolley Jrnl. New York (1860) 36 Their Squaws or Wives and Female Sex manage their Harvest. * 1756 Washington Jrnl. Writ. 1889 I. 401 Captn. Pear is came to town the other day with six Cherokees and two squaws. * 1836 Backwoods Canada 160 The Indians are very expert; the squaws paddling the canoes with admirable skill. * 1877 G. Gibbs Tribes W. Washington 193 The prairies are dotted over with squaws, each armed with a sharp stake and a basket. b. Applied by Indians to white women. * 1642 Lechford Plain Dealing 49 And when they [sc. Indians] see any of our English women sewing with their needles, or working quoifes, or such things, they will crie out, Lazie squaes! * 1837 W. Irving Capt. Bonneville III. 147 They..were especially eloquent about the white squaws. c. In general use: A wife or spouse. rare. * 1823 Byron Juan xiii. lxxix, Mrs. Rabbi, the rich banker's squaw. [obsolete sense] 2. Used as adj. Female. Obs.-1 * 1634 W. Wood New England's Prosp. ii. xv, They posted to the English to tell them how the case stood or hung with their squaw horse. 3. transf. An effeminate or weak person. * 1807 Pike Sources Mississ. (1810) 20, I directed my interpreter to ask how many scalps they had taken, they replied `none'; he added they were all squaws, for which I reprimanded him. * C. 1890 A. Welcker Tales West 24 By way of expressing their utter contempt for him they called him a `squaw'. 4. old squaw, the long-tailed duck. * 1884 E. P. Roe Nat. Ser. Story vi, There is the old squaw, or long-tailed duck. * 1894 [see old wife 2]. 5. attrib. a. as squaw-axe, dance, hitch, mistress; squaw boot (see quot. 1975); squaw-man, a White (or Negro) who marries a North American Indian woman; [obsolete sense] squaw-sachem, a squaw chief in certain American Indian peoples; squaw winter, a short spell of winter-like weather which freq. precedes the Indian summer of Canada and the northern United States; squaw wood (see quot. 1944). * 1896 Harper's Mag. XCII. 707/1 Such a settler.., watching his chance, fell on his captors..and slew them `with a *squaw-axe'. * 1952 J. K. Howard Strange Empire 336 All the women had beaded ornaments and lavishly embroidered `*squaw boots'. * 1975 C. Calasibetta Fairchild's Dict. Fashion 50/2 Squaw boot, below-the-knee boot made of buckskin with fringed turned down cuff at top, soft sole, no heel, worn by American Indian women and popular with young people in the 1960's. * 1864 in Beaver (Winnipeg) (1963) Autumn 52/2 Oregon Jack gave a *squaw dance at which everybody got very drunk, I believe. * 1894 Outing XXIV. 83/1 The short, choppy stepping of most squaw dances elsewhere. * 1887 Lees & Clutterbuck British Columbia 232 Other hitches there are of less fame than this, notably the `*Squaw Hitch', a comparatively simple affair. * A. 1901 A. Adams Log Cowboy iii, He showed me what he called a squaw hitch, with which you can lash a pack single-handed. * 1866 Rep. Indian Affairs (U.S.) 91 White men, who have located in the vicinity of the reservation, and are known as *squaw men. * 1877 R. I. Dodge Hunting Grounds Gt. West xliii. 427 Squaw men. This is the name given by Indians to those men, not of their tribe, who, by purchase of squaws (marriage), have been adopted by or are tolerated in it. * 1884 Pall Mall G. 26 Aug. (Encycl. D.), The squaw-man-the miserable wretch of European blood who marries a Crow or a Blackfoot in order to take up land in the Indian Reservation. * 1894 Outing XXIV. 87/2 A negro squaw-man (that is, one having an Indian wife) who went by the name of `Smoky'. * 1707 in Sewall Diary (1879) II. 60* She sent then unto a French Priest, that he would speak unto her *Squa Mistress. * 1622 Relat. Plantation Plymouth, New Eng. 57 Also the *Squa Sachim, or Massachusets Queene was an enemy to him. * 1716 B. Church Hist. Philip's War (1865) I. 6 Amongst the rest he sent Six Men to Awashonks Squaw-Sachem of the Sogkonate Indians, to engage her in his Interests. * 1861 Amer. Agriculturist XX. 321/2 The best authorities put them immediately after *Squaw Winter, which is the first cold snap that destroys tender vegetation. * 1871 Lakeside Monthly V. 4/2 Those single-minded, grand old fellows..kicked the light snow of `squaw winter' from their Spanish-leather boots. * 1901 in Cent. Dict. Suppl. (1909) s.v. Winter, Squaw winter is giving us a good long visit. * 1914 Outing June 191/2 The cooking fire is only the beginning of the possibilities of `*squaw wood'. * 1944 R. F. Adams Western Words 153/1 Squaw wood, a slang name for dried cow chips; also used in speaking of small, dry, easily broken sticks when used for fuel. * 1968 C. Helmericks Down Wild River North i. vi. 100 Anything is squaw wood that you don't have to chop. b. In names of plants, as squaw-berry, the edible berry of one of several shrubs, esp. the bear-berry, Arctostaphylos uva-ursi, an evergreen prostrate creeper; squaw corn, a variety of maize having soft grains of various colours; squaw huckleberry, -root, -weed, whortleberry (see quots.). Also squaw-bush, -carpet, -flower, -grass, -mint, -vine, in recent Amer. Dicts. * 1852 Anglo-Amer. Mag. I. 418/2 The partridge leads her young brood forth to feed upon the soft luscious fruits of the huckleberry and *squaw-berry. * 1884 M. G. C. Hall Lady's Life on Farm in Manitoba 162 We have had jelly made of squawberries. * 1956 V. Fisher Pemmican (1957) 161 Dried elderberry, or squawberry or wild currant he did not care for. * 1824 J. Doddridge Notes Settlement Virginia 90 How widely different is the large *squaw corn, in its size, and the period of its growth. * 1914 E. Stewart Lett. Woman Homesteader 151 They had a small patch of land..on which was raised the squaw corn that hung in bunches from the rafters. * 1975 Daily Colonist (Victoria, B.C.) 5 Oct. 22/5 Nowadays, squaw corn is grown purely for its highly ornamental, variegated ears with kernels in purple, mauve, red, yellow, cream and black, very nice for Thanksgiving..displays. * 1856 A. Gray Man. Bot. (1860) 248 Vaccineum stamineum, Deerberry. *Squaw Huckleberry. * 1848 Bartlett Dict. Amer. 328 *Squaw-root,..a medicinal plant put up by the Shakers. * 1856 A. Gray Man. Bot. (1860) 280 Conopholis. Squaw-root. Cancer-root. * 1847 Darlington Amer. Weeds, etc. (1860) 193 Senecio aureus... Golden Senecio. Golden Ragwort. *Squaw-weed. * 1847 Darlington Amer. Weeds, etc. (1860) 193 The var. obovatus (called `Squaw-weed') has been being poisonous to sheep. * 1872 De Vere Americanisms 62 Squaw Root..and Squaw Weed..hold their place among the medicinal plants of the country, but owe their names to modern, not to Indian, usage. * 1845-50 Mrs. Lincoln Lect. Bot. ii. 181/1 Vaccinium stamineum, *squaw whortleberry. c. squaw-fish, a fresh-water cyprinoid fish (Ptychocheilus Oregonensis) of the Western U.S. * 1888 Lees & Clutterbuck B.C. 1887 (1892) xv. 147 We..fished with fair success for the white-fish and squaw-fish which abound in it. Hence squawed pa. pple., married to a squaw. * 1904 E. Robins Magnetic North 324 The old miners had nearly all got `squawed'. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------