Definitions

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A dance from southern Africa, used especially during political protests.
  • verb To perform this dance.

Etymologies

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Examples

  • ANC breakaways from KwaZulu-Natal continued to sing and toyi-toyi outside the Sandton Convention Centre, even after proceedings were underway.

    ANC Daily News Briefing 2008

  • Police said the toyi-toyi, a dance popular with political activists in southern Africa, often provoked clashes between political rivals.

    ANC Daily News Briefing 2008

  • Some exited the community hall, saying they should "toyi-toyi".

    ANC Daily News Briefing 2008

  • Car stereos blasted anti-apartheid struggle songs, and men and women clapped and danced the toyi-toyi -- a stomping-type protest dance that brings peoples 'bodies and voices together in one defiant, beautiful movement.

    Stephanie Hanes: A Song for Zuma 2008

  • Even as they assert their visibility, as did the women who marched on the Union Buildings, these mobilised women would not need to shout, or jump, or talk real loud, or dance the toyi-toyi, because they would be involved in the extremely serious, practical and complex business of the reconstruction and development of our society.

    ANC Today 2007

  • "But it seem the only language they understand is when we burn tyres and toyi-toyi" in reference to a revolutionary dance that was one of the hallmarks of the infamous Soweto uprising in 1976.

    ANC Daily News Briefing 2007

  • But I can't promise you that they were doing the toyi-toyi!

    Up the Bucs: Visiting South Africa's Soweto -- the southwest townships, then & now 2007

  • Even as they assert their visibility, as did the women who marched on the Union Buildings, these mobilised women would not need to shout, or jump, or talk real loud, or dance the toyi-toyi, because they would be involved in the extremely serious, practical and complex business of the reconstruction and development of our society.

    ANC Today 2007

  • And usually when the police drove by the church, they thought that the toyi-toyi chants they were hearing were hymns.

    Up the Bucs: Visiting South Africa's Soweto -- the southwest townships, then & now 2007

  • The toyi-toyi is a quasi-military dance step characterized by high-stepping movements and done with linked arms.

    Up the Bucs: Visiting South Africa's Soweto -- the southwest townships, then & now 2007

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