talking stick
talking stick noun: a ceremonial stick that grants the holder the right to speak in a group discussion.
Noun
talking stick (plural talking sticks)
- A ceremonial stick that grants the holder the right to speak in a group discussion.
- Synonyms:
- speaker's staff
- A piece of wood which is used by aboriginal Australians as part of or a form of communication either by being carved or by another method.
- These "talking sticks" appear to have been made according to some conventional design known among the tribes using them.1901, R. H. Mathews, “Pictorial Art Among the Australian Aborigines”, in Journal of the Transactions of the Victoria Institute, or Philosophical Society of Great Britain, volume XXXIII, London...
- The same day that he read the talking-stick, he had asked permission to go to his own country, […]1903, Ada Janet Peggs, “Notes on the Aborigines of Roebuck Bay, Western Australia”, in Folk-lore, volume XIV, London: David Nutt, page 335
- Synonyms:
- message stick, stick letter
Synonyms of talking stick
Forms of talking stick
| plural | talking sticks |
|---|
Questions about talking stick
- What does talking stick mean?
- Talking stick means a ceremonial stick that grants the holder the right to speak in a group discussion.
- What part of speech is talking stick?
- Talking stick is a noun.
- What is the plural of talking stick?
- The plural of talking stick is talking sticks.
Words near talking stick in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: talking stick (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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