DCHP-1 Online
coupstick Hist. 
1 n. See 1914 quote.
- 1914 "Coup" sticks are weapons having an egg-shaped stone secured to a stick by raw hide tied round a groove in the stone, with a loose end at the other extremity which was coiled round the wrists like a sword knot.
- 1953 The warriors, tall and powerful men, all had magazine rifles, some Enfields, some Sharpes and Winchesters, and some Springfield Cavalry carbines. Most of them wore vicious coupsticks in their belts.
2 n. a slender stick bedecked with feathers and used in ceremonies and for counting coup, that is, striking an adversary in battle.
See also: coup
- 1765-75 (1933) [As I Aprocht the Banks of the Villeag I Perseaved a Number of Long Pa[i]nted Poles on which Hung a Number of Artickels. . . .]
- 1907 (1913) In ceremonial parades . . . an ornamental quirt or rod was sometimes carried and used as a coup stick.
- 1934 The gaudy war-bonnets and coup sticks of the Sioux . . . formed a strange contrast to the Governor in his frock coat and silk hat. . . .
- 1963 But in the lodges that are entered for the best tipi contest . . . are to be seen priceless treasures; decorated parfleches (rawhide bags made something like an envelope); a medicine bundle . . . befeathered coup stick (to touch an enemy or count coup was a braver act than killing him).
- 1914 "Coup" sticks are weapons having an egg-shaped stone secured to a stick by raw hide tied round a groove in the stone, with a loose end at the other extremity which was coiled round the wrists like a sword knot.