Assegai

//ˈæsəɡaɪ// noun, verb

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A slim hardwood spear or javelin with an iron tip, especially those used by Bantu peoples of Southern Africa.

    "But now the Moormen, stalking o'er the strand / to guard the wat'ery stores the strangers need; / this, targe on arm and assegai in hand, / that, with his bended bow, and venom'd reed[.]"

  2. 2
    the slender spear of the Bantu-speaking people of Africa wordnet
  3. 3
    The tree species Curtisia dentata, the wood of which is traditionally used to make assegais.

    "In the clearing, built around the base of an assegai tree, stood a hut, plastered in cow dung."

Verb
  1. 1
    To spear with an assegai.

Etymology

Etymology 1

From French azagaie (now zagaie) or Portuguese azagaia, Spanish azagaya, and later in the forms that have become most common borrowed from Afrikaans assegaai, from colloquial Arabic اَلزَّغَايَة (az-zaḡāya), from Proto-Berber *zaġāya (“spear”).

Etymology 2

From French azagaie (now zagaie) or Portuguese azagaia, Spanish azagaya, and later in the forms that have become most common borrowed from Afrikaans assegaai, from colloquial Arabic اَلزَّغَايَة (az-zaḡāya), from Proto-Berber *zaġāya (“spear”).

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