Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The pith-tree of the Nile, Æschynomene Elaphroxylon, a thorny shrub or small tree of extraordinarily quick growth: a characteristic plant of the waters of tropical Africa. Its uncommonly light, spongy wood is used for floats and small rafts. See ambash.

Etymologies

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Examples

  • To this short and apparently insignificant weapon a strong rope is secured, about twenty feet in length, at the extremity of which is a buoy or float, as large as a child's head, formed of an extremely light wood called ambatch (Aanemone mirabilis) that is of about half the specific gravity of cork.

    In the Heart of Africa Samuel White Baker 1857

  • The raft is made from reeds called ambatch harvested from the shores of the lake and it takes only a day to build one.

    Social Strategy & Design by @KarlLong 2009

  • On reaching the ambatch woods to the south of the ford, I discovered a large number of stacks of ambatch ready cut and prepared for raft-making on an extensive scale.

    Three Months in the Soudan 1885

  • The bull was in the greatest fury, and rose to the surface, snorting and blowing in his impotent rage; but as the ambatch float was exceedingly large, and this naturally accompanied his movements, he tried to escape from his imaginary persecutor, and dived constantly, only to find his pertinacious attendant close to him upon regaining the surface.

    Library of the World's Best Literature, Ancient and Modern — Volume 3 Charles Dudley Warner 1864

  • The men on the opposite bank now dropped their line, and our men hauled in upon the ambatch float that was held fast between the ropes.

    Library of the World's Best Literature, Ancient and Modern — Volume 3 Charles Dudley Warner 1864

  • One glanced obliquely from the scales; the other stuck fairly in the tough hide, and the iron, detached from the bamboo, held fast, while the ambatch float, running on the surface of the water, marked the course of the reptile beneath.

    Library of the World's Best Literature, Ancient and Modern — Volume 3 Charles Dudley Warner 1864

  • Upon both sides of the river the people now advanced, dragging the rope on the surface of the water until they reached the ambatch float that was swimming to and fro, according to the movements of the hippopotamus below.

    Library of the World's Best Literature, Ancient and Modern — Volume 3 Charles Dudley Warner 1864

  • The crack of the ball and the absence of any splash from the bullet told me that he was hit; the ambatch float remained perfectly stationary upon the surface.

    In the Heart of Africa Samuel White Baker 1857

  • No figure of bronze could have been more rigid than that of the old river-king as he stood erect upon the rock with the left foot advanced and the harpoon poised in his ready right hand above his head, while in the left he held the loose coils of rope attached to the ambatch buoy.

    In the Heart of Africa Samuel White Baker 1857

  • The bull was in the greatest fury, and rose to the surface, snorting and blowing in his impotent rage; but as the ambatch float was exceedingly large, and this naturally accompanied his movements, he tried to escape from his imaginary persecutor, and dived constantly, only to find his pertinacious attendant close to him upon regaining the surface.

    In the Heart of Africa Samuel White Baker 1857

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