Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A striking-weapon, such as a club.

Etymologies

Sorry, no etymologies found.

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Examples

  • One blow from this formidable weapon -- which is called "patu" -- is sufficient to scatter the brains of the person struck.

    The Western World Picturesque Sketches of Nature and Natural History in North and South America William Henry Giles Kingston 1847

  • In fact we learned that in the New Zealand, or Aotearoa culture, there is a carved wooden weapon known as a patu, used in hand to hand combat.

    AngelBrat's Blog 2009

  • He did, however, think it strange for this young, uninvited guest to be swathed in a blanket-like shawl, or "patu," given the sweltering summer heat.

    War in Context 2010

  • To give more attention to "just" aesthetic concerns would be to "endorse precisely the concept of the eighteenth-century curiosity cabinet, in which Assyrian shards, tropical seashells, a piece of Olmec jade, geodes, netsuke, an Attic oil lamp, bird of paradise feathers, and a Maori patu might lay side by side in indifferent splendour."

    Philosophy and Literature 2009

  • Labels: i-710, nick patu, President Barack Obama, wendy greuel

    Archive 2009-01-01 2009

  • My ancestors were skill warriors, trained at the arts of taiaha, patu and many other arts.

    TUMAI 2007

  • “If you ask people, many will just tell you ‘go ask that guy — I think he was born when I was’,” explains Sami, who sits on the TV couch huddled against the cold in his patu -- a thick blanketlike shawl that men wrap over their heads and shoulders.

    Why Afghans Don't Know Their Ages 2007

  • As small clouds of green dust filled the air, Noel asked me if I had ever tried patu.

    One River Wade Davis 1996

  • The other two were known as hoki patu, stick coca, and wehki patu, coca of the tapir.

    One River Wade Davis 1996

  • But like most mestizo traders and rubber tappers of the Vaupés, he had adopted native ways, including the use of coca, or patu as he called it in Cubeo.

    One River Wade Davis 1996

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