Among North American Indians, a kettle which was set on the fire as a part of the ceremony of inaugurating a war; also fig.
1754. World, No. 102, ¶ 7. At a meeting of the Sachems it was determined to take up the hatchet, and make the war-kettle boil.
1757. [Burke], Europ. Settlem. Amer., I. II. iv. 181. The principal captain summons the youth of the town to which he belongs; the war kettle is set on the fire;… the hatchet is sent to all the villages of the same nation, and to all its allies.
1764. Mrs. E. Carter, Lett. to Miss Talbot, 3 Feb. (1809), III. 88. The Duke had made a dinner in honor of the wedding, for the Dukes of D. G. P. B. Lord R. and other chiefs of the war-kettle.
1776. Mickle, trans. Camoens’ Lusiad, Introd. p. lxxxviii., note. His [the prisoner’s] dissevered limbs are boiled in the war-kettle, and devoured by his executioners.
1791. J. Long, Voy. Indian Interpreter, 146. They … brought him to the war-kettle to make his death-feast; which consisted of dog, tyger-cat, and bear’s grease, mixed with wild oats, of which he was compelled to eat.
1861. Spurgeon, in Metrop. Tab. Pulpit, No. 383. 283. They shall empty their war-kettle, and they shall bury their swords.
