poundmaker

plural poundmakers

1. CanadaUSAmerind cultureOne who makes buffalo pounds.

   The best poundmakers in the band have done their work.

   2016, Janet Louise Swoboda Lunn, The Story of Canada

   2 more examples

   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).

   1973, Thomas F. Kehoe, The Gull Lake Site: A Prehistoric Bison Drive Site in Southwestern Saskatchewan

   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.

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

1. A male or female given name. An occupational given name found in Plains Amerindian cultures.
2. A surname originating as an occupation. A Plains Amerind surname derived from the given name.