1. A tent used by American Indians of the Great Plains, cone shaped and covered with animal skins sewn together and stretched over wooden poles: "Jacob was so interested in the Sioux Indians that he got a book about them, and he learned that their tepees were very valuable dwellings."

"The tepees were collapsible, easily transported, and then quickly erected when they moved into another place."

2. Etymology: from the Sioux language tipi, from ti, "to dwell" and pi, "used for".