Totem \To"tem\, n. [Massachusetts Indian wutohtimoin that to which a person or place belongs.]

A rude picture, as of a bird, beast, or the like, used by the North American Indians as a symbolic designation, as of a family or a clan.

And they painted on the grave posts Of the graves, yet unforgotten, Each his own ancestral totem Each the symbol of his household; Figures of the bear and reindeer, Of the turtle, crane, and beaver. --Longfellow.

The totem,the clan deity, the beast or bird who in some supernatural way attends to the clan and watches over it. --Bagehot.

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)