Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. Variant of assegai.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A slender spear or lance of hard wood, usually having an iron head: now most commonly applied to the throwing-spear or javelin used in battle by the natives of South Africa, especially the Zulus and Kafirs. Also spelled assegai.
- To strike or kill with an assagai. Also spelled assegai.
Wiktionary
- n. alternative spelling of assegai.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. A spear used by tribes in South Africa as a missile and for stabbing, a kind of light javelin.
WordNet 3.0
- n. the slender spear of the Bantu-speaking people of Africa
Examples
“The Bushman retains the ancient arms of the Hottentot race, namely, a javelin or assagai, similar to that of the Caffres, and a bow and arrows.”
“You must not be afraid of being "Bantuised" or feel ashamed of carrying an assagai or of going about with only”
“With the other he seized the top of a wooden packing-box, and holding this in front of his chest and abdomen as a Kaffir would hold his pavise, or rawhide shield, to ward off a thrust from an assagai, he walked straight toward his adversary.”
With Sabre and Scalpel. The Autobiography of a Soldier and Surgeon
“[115] Javelins: the Portuguese word is _azagayas_, with which cf. _assagai_, the name of a like weapon among the Kaffirs of Africa.”
“It was an act like lightning; either the Kafir would send the assagai first, or the shot must fall.”
The Autobiography of Liuetenant-General Sir Harry Smith, Baronet of Aliwal on the Sutlej, G. C. B.
“They were dreadfully frightened, but at last one laid down his assagai and by degrees in about an hour approached my Kafir.”
The Autobiography of Liuetenant-General Sir Harry Smith, Baronet of Aliwal on the Sutlej, G. C. B.
“Two of the wounded fellows passed me yesterday, those with assagai wounds who had been with Murray.”
The Autobiography of Liuetenant-General Sir Harry Smith, Baronet of Aliwal on the Sutlej, G. C. B.
“I immediately rode so close to him that his assagai was comparatively harmless, and, seizing him by the collar of his karosse (or tiger-skin cloak), I found I could shake him in his seat.”
The Autobiography of Liuetenant-General Sir Harry Smith, Baronet of Aliwal on the Sutlej, G. C. B.
“Lieut. Balfour, 72nd Regiment, pursued him into the bush, the former keeping up, the latter down the stream, when Southey was suddenly startled by an assagai striking the stone or cliff on which he was climbing.”
The Autobiography of Liuetenant-General Sir Harry Smith, Baronet of Aliwal on the Sutlej, G. C. B.
“But no Kafir was to come near us with an assagai The Kafir was a clever fellow, and wanted me to name a place to meet Hintza.”
The Autobiography of Liuetenant-General Sir Harry Smith, Baronet of Aliwal on the Sutlej, G. C. B.
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘assagai’.
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An Intermediate Course of Random Pala...
A third uncategorized list of words that catch my eye or fancy. Common or regional names and terms, names of foods and food preparation utensils, bird, plant and animal names, jargon words, and od...
lobscouse, skillygalee, skilly, skippaug, pauhagen, paughaden, poghaden, poggie, pog, skoodle, reef goose, reezle and 138 more...
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VanishedOne's Words
facipulator, fetiphobia, gules, boustrophedon, reverse boustroph..., unreal, ensiform, xiphoid, romhack, heritage, floccinaucinihili..., johnian and 1004 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for assagai.
sionnach gavagai. Jan 18, 2009
hernesheir (n): apparently a borrowing from Berber: Fr. azagaye from Arabic azzagai, from al + the Berber zaghayah; a South African tree of the dogwood family (I'll have to confirm this) from which a slender iron-tipped spear is made. Jan 17, 2009
vanishedone The OED favours this spelling over assegai, but I get the impression the latter is more widely used. Jun 14, 2008