English

Alternative forms

• rawranoke [17th c.]

Noun

roanoke ‎(uncountable)

1. (US, historical) White beads of low value made from shells, formerly used for ornaments and currency by Native Americans of colonial Virginia.
   • 1624, John Smith, Generall Historie, in Kupperman 1988, p. 94:

     Cuscarawaoke, where is made so much Rawranoke or white beads that occasion as much dissention among the savages, as gold and silver amongst Christians […]

   • 1656, John Tradescant, Musaeum Tradescantianum, pages 47 and 51, different spelling as printed:

     Pohatan, King of Virgiania's habit all embroidered with shells, or Roanoke (p. 47); Virginian purses imbroidered with Roanoake (p. 51)

   • 1993, Joseph Douglas Deal, Race and class in colonial Virginia: Indians, Englishmen, and Africans on the Eastern Shore during the seventeenth century, page 23:

     The king of Machepungo was ordered to deliver over twice as much roanoke in graduated payments over the course of eight months.