SCALP LOCK • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Scalp lock

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/skælp lɑk/ Listen

noun

Scalp n.

That part of the integument of the head which is usually covered with hair. "By the bare scalp of Robin Hodd's fat friar, This fellow were a king for our wild faction!"

A part of the skin of the head, with the hair attached, cut or torn off from an enemy by the Indian warriors of North America, as a token of victory.

Fig.: The top; the summit.

Scalp lock, a long tuft of hair left on the crown of the head by the warriors of some tribes of American Indians.

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Etymology of 'Scalp lock'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Scalp lock" Quotes from Famous Books

... 6th, whilst busily engaged in crossing a wooded stream, we were thrown into a little confusion by the sudden arrival of Maxwell, who entered the camp at full speed at the head of a war party of Osage Indians, with gay red blankets, and heads shaved to the scalp lock. They had run him a distance of about nine miles, from a creek on which we had encamped the day previous, and to which he had returned in search of a runaway horse belonging to Mr. Dwight, which had taken the homeward ...

— The Exploring Expedition to the Rocky Mountains, Oregon and California • Brevet Col. J.C. Fremont

... the tugging at my scalp lock, and I know That I'd gladly wear to please her that old flowing girlish bow; And I think I'd even try to don once more that velvet suit, And blush the same old blushes, as the women called me cute, Could the dear old mother only take me by the hand again, ...

— Just Folks • Edgar A. Guest

... tall, spare young fellow, absolutely naked except clout, ankle moccasins, hatchet-girdle, and pouch; and wearing no paint except a white disc on his forehead the size of a shilling. A single ragged frond hung from his scalp lock. ...

— The Hidden Children • Robert W. Chambers

... all picked warriors tried and true. They were naked to the waist. Across their brawny chests ran a broad bar of flaming red paint; hideous designs in black and white covered their faces. Every head had been clean-shaven except where the scalp lock bristled like a porcupine's quills. Each warrior carried a plumed spear, a tomahawk, and a rifle. The shining heads, with the little tufts of hair tied tightly close to the scalp, were enough to show that these Indians were ...

— Betty Zane • Zane Grey

... up the stairs. The boys fidgetted uneasily. Ernest began twisting his scalp lock again and Carol hitched up his suspenders to keep up his courage. He alone was guiltless of taking the money, but it did not occur to him to desert his companions in distress. As for Sherm, his face got so red by the time Mrs. Morton's step sounded outside the ...

— Chicken Little Jane • Lily Munsell Ritchie