totem : Dictionary / Wörterbuch (BEOLINGUS, TU Chemnitz)

English Dictionary: totem	by the DICT Development Group
2 results for totem
From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]:
totem n a clan or tribe identified by their kinship to a common totemic object emblem consisting of an object such as an animal or plant; serves as the symbol of a family or clan (especially among American Indians)
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]:
Totem \To"tem\, n. [Massachusetts Indian wutohtimoin that to which a person or place belongs.] A rude picture, as of a bird, beast, or the like, used by the North American Indians as a symbolic designation, as of a family or a clan. And they painted on the grave posts Of the graves, yet unforgotten, Each his own ancestral totem Each the symbol of his household; Figures of the bear and reindeer, Of the turtle, crane, and beaver. --Longfellow. The totem,the clan deity, the beast or bird who in some supernatural way attends to the clan and watches over it. --Bagehot.