noun

• (Canada, US, also figuratively) A ceremony amongst certain indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest in which gifts are bestowed upon guests and personal property is destroyed in a show of generosity and wealth.
  "First, the Indian himself is to be sought out; then the horse is to be tried; next the price is to be discussed, then the mode of payment, and finally the potlatch: each and all are matters of grave consideration and delay, during which the Indians make a business of watching every circumstance of which they can take advantage. No one can be sure of closing his bargain, until the terms are duly arranged, the potlatch given, and the horse delivered."
• (US, chiefly Alaska) A communal meal to which guests bring dishes to share; a potluck.
  "If all went according to plan, the bands could harvest tons of meat, fat and animal skins in a single afternoon of collective effort, and either consume these riches in a giant potlatch, or dry, smoke or (in Arctic areas) freeze them for later usage."

verb

• (transitive) To give; especially, to give as a gift during a potlatch ceremony.
  "He was a Chilkaht chief, and it being New Year's day, he had been to General Davis's house and "potlatched" (treated) to a bottle of whiskey."
• (intransitive) To carry out or take part in a potlatch ceremony.
  "[page 85] In Oregon, Washington, British Columbia and Alaska, a native who has acquired a large share of this world's goods becomes at times stricken with a sort of ecstasy, when he feels it incumbent on himself to organize a sort of conscience fund on his own hook. He calls his neighbors together, has a big feast and distributes to his guest all his earthly belongings. [...] [page 86] [T]here is no instance on record of any of the leading capitalists of America ever having held a potlatch, though the records of the Conscience Fund at Washington do show that many Americans have potlatched with the Government according to the extent of their misdoings, some with and some without legal interest."