assegai
Americannoun
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assegais
plural
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the slender javelin or spear of the Bantu-speaking people of southern Africa.
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a southern African tree, Curtisia dentata, of the dogwood family, from whose wood such spears are made.
verb (used with object)
noun
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a southern African cornaceous tree, Curtisia faginea, the wood of which is used for making spears
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a sharp light spear, esp one made of this wood
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of assegai
First recorded in 1615–25; earlier azagaia, from Portuguese, from Arabic az zaghāyah, equivalent to al “the” + Berber zaghāyah “assegai”
Vocabulary lists containing assegai
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
They have brought with them a traditional Zulu assegai spear and a British boot plate, which was found on the battlefield, for the museum.
From BBC ● Nov. 21, 2015
The 19th century Zulu King Shaka adapted this long spear into a broad sword, the stabbing assegai.
From Time Magazine Archive
Yengwa draped himself with a blanket, rolled up a newspaper to imitate an assegai, and began to stride back and forth reciting the lines from the praise song.
From "Long Walk to Freedom" by Nelson Mandela
After a minute, he stopped walking, faced us, and, newly energized, exclaimed that this incident — the assegai striking the wire — symbolized the clash between the culture of Africa and that of Europe.
From "Long Walk to Freedom" by Nelson Mandela
The old man was a famous ingcibi, a circumcision expert, from Gcalekaland, who would use his assegai to change us from boys to men with a single blow.
From "Long Walk to Freedom" by Nelson Mandela
Stamping their feet, beating on their shields with their assegais and roaring the war cry usutu!, the warrior impis, arrayed like the right and left horns of the buffalo, would begin encircling the foe.
From Time Magazine Archive
The leading man at once stepped forward, the others following, and in a few moments six stalwart natives, armed with assegais and shields, were looking curiously at the small party of whites.
From The Golden Rock by Ernest Glanville
He gathered up the three assegais, all well-made weapons with keen blades and long, tapering handles; then, as they mounted and rode off, he told his companion what had happened.
From The Fire Trumpet A Romance of the Cape Frontier by Bertram Mitford
And their assegais are each made with seven or eight harpoon-like prongs, and the plant they use is very venomous.
From The Chronicle of the Discovery and Conquest of Guinea Vol. II by Gomes Eannes de Zurara
“It were a ole muzzle-loader—one smooth, one rifle—and I shifted, but it weren’t long afor’ they picked up my spoor, and in the fust rush I could hear the rattle of assegais as they follered.
From Tales from the Veld by Ernest Glanville
We should be assegaied in a moment if we were to go down; let’s go back to our old look-out.”
From The Young Colonists A Story of the Zulu and Boer Wars by G.A. Henty
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
