Tepee

tepee or tipi (both: tē`pē), typical dwelling of Native North Americans living on the Great Plains. It was usually made by arranging tent poles into a conical frame and spreading skins, usually buffalo hide, tightly over it. An aperture was generally left at the top for smoke. The tepee was sometimes very elaborately decorated. It was highly mobile, being dragged by a horse when the tribe was on the move, and provided a strong shelter against the weather; it was thus an ideal dwelling for the nomadic Plains area tribes such as the Sioux and the Blackfoot. Because of the adaptability of the tepee to prairie life, Gen. Henry Sibley used it as a model for the tent that bears his name.

Bibliography

See R. Laubin and G. Laubin, The Indian Tipi (1957, repr. 1971).

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tepee

 or tipi

Tepees in Banff, Alta., Can.

(credit: Alpha)

Tall conical tent dwelling used by the Plains Indians of North America. It was suited to nomadic buffalo hunting because it could be easily dismantled and transported. It was made by stretching a sewn cover of buffalo skins over a skeleton of 20–30 wooden poles, all slanted in toward a central point and tied together near the top. A flap at the top allowed smoke to escape, and a flap at the bottom served as a doorway. The tepee became a popular symbol of all American Indians, although the wickiup, hogan, igloo, longhouse, earth lodge, and pueblo were at least as important.

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tepee, teepee

a cone-shaped tent of animal skins used by certain North American Indians

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tipi

A relatively lightweight, transportable, conically shaped dwelling primarily of American Indians of the Great Plains; its base was generally egglike in plan, with the narrower end of the base at the entrance. The framework consisted of heavy wood poles, fixed in the ground at their lower ends and lashed together at the top. This framework was covered with decorated waterproof animal skins, sewn together with sinew and secured to the ground by pegs driven through loops at the base of the cover. Another type of tipi, used by tribes in the eastern regions of America, had a domed rather than a conical framework consisting of branches bent over, tied together, and covered by bark or animal skins sewn together with sinew to provide a waterproof covering. Also spelled tepee or teepee.

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Tepee 

a dwelling used by hunting Indian tribes on the prairies of North America.

A tepee is a conical tent constructed of poles with a closely fitting cover of sewn buffalo or deer hides. The upper part has two flaps of hide that protect the smoke hole from the wind; at the bottom is an entrance opening, covered with a flap of hide. Tepees hold six to 15 people and are well adapted to the nomadic way of life.