assegai

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“
He took it sure enough, for the assegai was wrenched out of the hand of the striker.

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Definitions (5)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (2)

  1. noun A light spear or lance, especially one with a short shaft and long blade for close combat, used by Bantu peoples of southern Africa.
  2. noun A southern African tree (Curtisia dentata) having wood used for making spears or lances.

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Examples (50)

  • Mrs. Graham had been stabbed with a Zulu assegai which had been hanging on the drawing-room wall. —  SLEUTH’S ALCHEMY: Cases of Mrs. Bradley and Others - Gladys Mitchell
  • Still, like the ridiculous, assegai-waving, song-singing Zulu of the South African novelists—whose local colour is usually as faulty as their grammar, thereby depriving them of all hope of salvation—the lion of the story-books has become a recognised institution. —  Diary of a Soldier of Fortune
  • His slender little assegai, with its tiny pointed tip, its long unmarked shaft. —  The Cosmic Rape
  • In the man ;s world the assegai was never useless. —  The Cosmic Rape
  • Although quite discarded in war, the assegai was still used in the chase, and the men and boys were encouraged to keep up the practice of assegai throwing. —  Kafir Stories Seven Short Stories
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This word has been looked up 77 times.

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Etymologies (1)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Obsolete French azagaie, probably from Old Spanish azagayah, from Arabic az-zaġāya : al-, the + Berber zaġāya, spear.
 

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