scalp lock

noun

1. a long lock or tuft of hair left on the shorn scalp by some North American Indian men.

scalp lock

noun

1. a small tuft or plait of hair left on the shaven scalp by American Indian warriors as a challenge to enemies

Word History and Origins

Origin of scalp lock¹

An Americanism dating back to 1815–25

Example Sentences

After Sitting Bull was shot and killed in 1890 on what is now the Standing Rock Reservation, an Army doctor took the chief’s leggings and scalp lock without permission.

From Science Magazine

Those fellows over there are barely sticking their scalp locks over the trenches.

From Project Gutenberg

The tribes who occupied the eastern part of the United States, wore their hair clipped short like the Chinamen, excepting that instead of a queue, there was a scalp lock which they adorned with feathers.

From Project Gutenberg

Mr. Dunbar states that “the tribal mark of the Pawnees in their pictographic or historic painting was the scalp lock dressed to stand nearly erect, or curving slightly backward something like a horn.”

From Project Gutenberg

Their grim and painted visages, close shaven crowns, scalp locks, and gaudy feathers, appeared through the medium of the red and flickering light reflected from the water, in horrible distinctness.

From Project Gutenberg