The left hand, thumb up, back forward, not very rigidly extended, is held before the chest and struck in the palm with the outer edge of the right hand. (Mandan and Hidatsa I.) “To kill with a blow; to deal the death blow.”  Fig. 269.

Right hand, fingers open but slightly curved, palm to the left; move downward, describing a curve. (Omaha I.)

[Illustration:  Fig. 269.]

Another:  Similar to the last, but the index finger is extended, pointing in front of you, the other fingers but half open. (Omaha I.)

Place the flat right hand, palm down, at arm’s length to the right, bring it quickly, horizontally, to the side of the head, then make the sign for DEAD. (Ojibwa V; Wyandot I.) “To strike with a club, dead.”

Both hands, in positions (AA), with arms semiflexed toward the body, make the forward rotary sign with the clinched fists as in fighting; the right hand is then raised from the left outward, as clutching a knife with the blade pointing downward and inward toward the left fist; the left fist, being held in situ, is struck now by the right, edgewise as above described, and both suddenly fall together. (Oto and Missouri I.) “To strike down in battle with a knife.  Indians seldom disagree or kill another in times of tribal peace.”

Deaf-mute natural signs: 

Strike a blow in the air with the clinched fist, and then incline the head to one side, and lower the open hand, palm upward. (Ballard.)

Strike the other hand with the fist, or point a gun, and, having shot, suddenly point to your breast with the finger, and hold your head sidewise on the hand. (Cross.)

Use the closed hand as if to strike, and then move back the head with the eyes shut and the mouth opened. (Hasenstab.)

Put the head down over the breast, and then move down the stretched hand along the neck. (Larson.)

Turkish sign: 

Draw finger across the throat like cutting with a knife. (Barnum.)

——­ In battle, To.

Make the sign for BATTLE by placing both hands at the height of the breast, palms facing, the left forward from the left shoulder, the right outward and forward from the right, fingers pointing up and spread, move them alternately toward and from one another; then strike the back of the fingers of the right hand into the slightly curved palm of the left, immediately afterward throwing the right outward and downward toward the right. (Ute I.) “Killed and falling over.”

——­ You; I will kill you.

Direct the right hand toward the offender and spring the finger from the thumb, as in the act of sprinkling water. (Long.) The conception is perhaps “causing blood to flow,” or, perhaps, “sputtering away the life,” though there is a strong similarity to the motion used for the discharge of a gun or arrow.