What does "mau-mau" mean?

To menace through intimidating tactics; to intimidate, harass; to terrorize.

What is a synonym for "mau-mau"?

Common synonyms include: anarchic, anarchist, bolshevik, charley, communist, jacobin.

verb

verb ·Rare ·Advanced level

Verb

1
To menace through intimidating tactics; to intimidate, harass; to terrorize. transitive
"It was my first experience with the phenomenon that would later be called "mau-mauing the flack catcher.""

"It was my first experience with the phenomenon that would later be called "mau-mauing the flack catcher.""

From Mau Mau, the name of a group of anti-British insurgents in Kenya, who were noted in Europe for their (alleged) extreme violence and brutality.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.