The Collaborative International Dictionary
Narragansetts \Nar`ra*gan"setts\, prop. n. pl.; sing. Narragansett. (Ethnol.) A tribe of Indians who formerly inhabited the shores of Narragansett Bay.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
1622, from southern New England Algonquian Naiaganset "(people) of the small point of land," containing nai- "a point or angle." Originally in reference to the native people, later to the place in Rhode Island.
Gazetteer
Wikipedia
Narragansett may refer to the Narragansett people, an indigenous people of Rhode Island.
It can also refer to the Narragansett language
- Narragansett Indian Tribe of Rhode Island, federally recognized tribe of Narragansett people
- Narragansett land claim
- The Narragansett Dawn, tribal newspaper from the 1930s
Usage examples of "narragansett".
Indian terms taken directly into English by the first colonists come from the two eastern families: the Iroquois confederacy, whose members included the Mohawk, Cherokee, Oneida, Seneca, Delaware and Huron tribes, and the even larger Algonquian group, which included Algonquin, Arapaho, Cree, Delaware, Illinois, Kickapoo, Narragansett, Ojibwa, Penobscot, Pequot and Sac and Fox, among many others.
Charles Ward examined a set of his accounts and invoices in the Shepley Library, did it occur to any person--save one embittered youth, perhaps--to make dark comparisons between the large number of Guinea blacks he imported until 1766, and the disturbingly small number for whom he could produce bona fide bills of sale either to slave-dealers at the Great Bridge or to the planters of the Narragansett Country.
He was the most distinguished of a number of contemporary sachems who reigned over the Pequods, the Narragansetts, the Wampanoags, and the other eastern tribes at the time of the first settlement of New England--a band of native untaught heroes who made the most generous struggle of which human nature is capable, fighting to the last gasp in the cause of their country, without a hope of victory or a thought of renown.
The fortitude and the eloquence of the Narragansett Chieftainess were born again in the Iroquois maiden.
New Zealand Tom and Don Miguel, after at various times creating great havoc among the boats of different vessels, were finally gone in quest of, systematically hunted out, chased and killed by valiant whaling captains, who heaved up their anchors with that express object as much in view, as in setting out through the Narragansett Woods, Captain Butler of old had it in his mind to capture that notorious murderous savage Annawon, the headmost warrior of the Indian King Philip.
New Zealand Tom and Don Miguel, after at various times creating great havoc among the boats of different vessels, were finally gone in quest of, systematically hunted out, chased and killed by valiant whaling captains, who heaved up their anchors with that express object as much in view, as in setting out through the Narragansett woods, Captain Butler of old had it in his mind to capture that notorious murderous savage Annawon, the headmost warrior of the Indian King Philip.
It sounded even worse than the explosion at Narragansett Pier the previous summer.
This time, the perpetrators were Narragansetts (or a tribe subject to them), and although the Narragansett sachems immediately dispatched 200 warriors to avenge the deaths on behalf of the colony, the English sent Captain John Endecott to Block Island with orders to seize the Indians' stores of wampum, slaughter all the men they could find, and take captive the women and children for sale as slaves in the West Indies.
But the very competitiveness of the New England colonies made effective unified action against the Indians almost impossible, and it wasn't until the spring of 1637 that the disorganized colonial forces were able to enlist the aid of the Narragansetts, Eastern Niantics, and Mohegans--all rivals of the Pequots--in order to mount a counteroffensive.
On September 21, 1638, the Treaty of Hartford divided the Pequot prisoners of war as slaves among the allied tribes--Mohegans, Narragansetts, and Niantics--and further stipulated that no Pequot could inhabit his former country again.
Beginning about 1662, he stirred rebellion among the Narragansetts and the Nipmucks as well as his own Wampanoags.
The Wampanoags, Narragansetts, and Nipmucks lost a great many of their number.
The Narragansetts were suffered to browse on the branches of the trees and shrubs that were thinly scattered over the summit of the hill, while the remains of their provisions were spread under the shade of a beech, that stretched its horizontal limbs like a canopy above them.
At the foot they found the Narragansetts browsing the herbage of the bushes, and having mounted, they followed the movements of a guide, who, in the most deadly straits, had so often proved himself their friend.
As they were also sure of foot, the Narragansetts were greatly sought for by females who were obliged to travel over the roots and holes in the “new countries.