smoke-signals
Puffs conveying meaning
Smoke signals are puffs of smoke used to send messages over distance, historically by Indigenous peoples of North America.
The term now typically appears figuratively for indirect hints or unclear communication: He's been sending smoke signals that he wants to leave the company.
Someone who isn't sending up smoke signals is being direct rather than hinting.
Ornamental feather or rising column
- wispsThin floating strands
- puffsBrief expulsions of air
- columnVertical structural element
- risingAct of ascending
billowing · skyward · visibility · horizon · distance · observation · silhouette · daytime
Transmitted communication
- transmitTo send onward
- conveyCommunicate or transport
- codeSymbolic communication system
- encodeConvert to cipher
decode · relay · dispatch · correspondence · notification · alert · warning · distress
Before documented civilization
watchtower · hilltop · long-distance · relay · warning · hunting · campfire · antiquity
plume
Ornamental feather or rising column
rising · billowing · skyward · visibility · horizon · distance · observation · silhouette · daytime · contrast
message
Transmitted communication
encode · decode · relay · dispatch · correspondence · notification · alert · warning · distress · visual
prehistoric
Before documented civilization
beacon · watchtower · hilltop · long-distance · relay · warning · hunting · campfire · antiquity · primal
distress
Severe anxiety or suffering
stranded · survival · wilderness · lost · marooned · shipwreck · beacon · alert · location · spotted
tribe
Social group sharing ancestry
- ceremonyFormal event marking occasions
- ritualCeremonial set of actions
- traditionCustom passed through generations
heritage · ancestors · Native American · Apache · Navajo · Cherokee · Sioux · Iroquois · powwow · elder
smoke-signalsinstant messaging
Live online text communication
text message · email · satellite communication · video call · fiber optics
smoke-signalsverbal communication
Exchange through spoken language
written word · speech · telephone · text · spoken language
smoke, signal, smokes, smoked, smoking, smoker, smokers, smoky, smokier