smokum

English

Etymology

From smoke +‎ -um.

Verb

smokum

1. (dated, humorous) To smoke.
   • 1896, F J Stimsom, King Noanett: A Story of Old Virginia and the Massachusetts Bay, page 254:

     "Givum dinner; smokum pipe," was all that we could get out of Quatchett.

   • 1968, Joan Baez, Daybreak, page 17:

     We ran up to him and danced around him like Indians and then stopped and puffed on a big stick and handed it to him saying, "Smokum peace pipe."

   • 2003, Stephen Brown, John F Sherry, editors, Time, Space and the Market: Retroscapes Rising, page 127:

     Historyland... sought to present a historical image of Native Americans ... different from the "Ugh! We-smokum peace-pipe" images once presented at Knott's Berry Farms.

   • 2004, Henry Bailey Stevens, Johnny Appleseed And Paul Bunyan: A Play of American Folklore in Three Acts with Prologue, page 47:

     He say tree, "Be good Indian." He say Indian, "Be good tree." We swear by Great Spirit. We smokum pipe.

Usage notes

• Part of the limited vocabulary used in the synthetic language apparently intended to illustrate language difficulties between Native Americans and the European colonists. This limited vocabulary is part of a stereotype that could be viewed as derogatorily portraying Native Americans, and particularly used in the context of smoking a peace pipe.