1. plural of papoose: Native American infants or young children, especially when carried on the back in a cradleboard
Usage: potentially offensive; dated

Examples

• The museum displayed traditional cradleboards used to carry papooses.
• Historical accounts describe how Native American mothers traveled with their papooses.
• The anthropologist studied child-rearing practices involving papooses in different tribes.
• Old photographs showed women with papooses strapped to their backs.
• The term papooses appears in many 19th-century writings about Native Americans.