billiken

plural billikens

1. alternativeAlternative form of Billiken.

   Florence Pretz of Kansas City patented the billiken in 1908.

   2013, Nancy Gates, The Alaska Almanac: Facts about Alaska, →ISBN

   2 more examples

   Other experiments have been made with the billiken but none so successful as the milliken. One is the rarely seen "billiken in a barrel," a male billiken with movable genitals. Carvers occasionally have attempted to portray billikens in different positions or in action, for example, "Spike" Milligrock's billiken bowing in a Japanese-like posture, which had little success.

   1961, Dorothy Jean Ray, Artists of the Tundra and the Sea, page 123

   Happy Jack made his first ivory billiken in 1909, the commercial ones were at the height of their success — having taken the country by storm — but by 1912 they had plunged to oblivion.

   1972, The Alaska Journal - Volumes 2-4, page 26

plural Billikens · alternative billiken · alternative billikin

1. A rotund charm doll originally patented in 1908 by American art teacher and illustrator, Florence Pretz of Kansas City, Missouri, and representing "the God of Things as They Ought to Be".