war-kettle
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 E. Carter Let. to Miss Talbot 3 Feb., 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 tr. 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. Ind. Interpr. 146 They..brought him to the war-kettle to make his death-feast: which consisted of dog, tyger-cat, and bear's grease, [etc.]..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. |