[a. F. calumet (Norman form of chalumet), given by the French in Canada to plants of which the stems serve as pipe-tubes, and to the Indian pipe. A parallel form to chalumeau, in OF. chalemel = Pr. calamel:—L. calamellus, dim. of calamus reed. The u in chalumeau began in the 16th c., and chalumet, calumet, was evidently modelled on it in the 17th c.
Charlevoix (1721), says ‘Le calumet est un mot Normand, qui veut dire chalumeau, et est proprement le tuyau d’une pipe.’]
A tobacco-pipe with a bowl of clay or stone, and a long reed stem carved and ornamented with feathers. It is used among the American Indians as a symbol of peace or friendship. To accept the calumet is to welcome terms of peace offered; to refuse it is to reject them.
[1638. Jesuit Relations, 35. Jamais ils ne tirent aucune conclusion que le calumet a la bouche.
1673. Marquette, Voy. Mississippi (Recit. des Voy. en 1673, ed. Lenox 54). Il y a un calumet pour la paix, et un pour la guerre.]
1717. Atlas Geogr., V. 780/2. They send 5, 10, or 20 Warriors to the Enemy, with the great Calumet of Peace…. This Calumet is only a Tobacco-Pipe describ’d thus by La Hontan; [etc.].
1754. World, II. No. 102. 264. The French desired to smoak the calumet of peace.
1778. Robertson, Amer., I. IV. 393. The ambassadors present the calumet or emblem of peace.
1841. Catlin, N. Amer. Ind. (1844), I. xxix. 235. The calumet or pipe of peace … is a sacred pipe and never allowed to be used on any other occasion than that of peace-making.
1849. Thackeray, in Scribner’s Mag. (1887), I. 552/2. I wanted to have gone to smoke a last calumet at … Portman Street.
1855. Longf., Hiaw., I. Smoke the calumet together, And as brothers live henceforward!
