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Siwash ((adj.))
DCHP-1 (pre-1967)
Entry from the DCHP-1 (pre-1967)
This entry may contain outdated or offensive information, terms, and examples.
1adj.
of or having to do with the Siwash (def. 1).
See: Siwash ((n.)) (def. 1)
Quotations
1860
The Indians in this neighborhood, though sufficiently numerous, are on the whole, an industrious and peaceably disposed branch of the Siwash family.
1887
The Siwash rancherie below the Hastings Mill was the scene of another disgraceful disturbance on Thursday night.
1913
Should you ever meet a siwash spook,
Ask, if you please, in your best Chinook,
The fate of Legai--what course he took,
And how did his choice pan out.
1964
. . . they all began to do a war dance around the pan. It was, as Carmack said later, a combination of Scotch horn-pipe, Indian fox-trot, syncopated Irish jig, and Siwash hula-hula.
2aadj. — Slang, Derog.
See quote.
Quotations
1961
At least on the coastal areas of the northwest portion of Canada and the United States, and to some extent in the interior, one often hears siwash also used as an adjective, meaning "no good." It is applied to Indians in that sense as well as dogs, coffee, and a variety of other things.
2badj.
mean; stingy.
Quotations
1923
"Can't yeh get none off a' him a' tall? Come Christmas time he oughtn't t' act siwash if he is a sheeny. . . . Jes' three er four mebbe'd fix us up?"