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
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
At one point, he raised his assegai into the air for emphasis and accidentally hit the curtain wire above him, which made a sharp noise and caused the curtain to sway.
From "Long Walk to Freedom" by Nelson Mandela
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
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
Just as he disappeared in the opposite bush, ten or twelve Zulus, brandishing assegais and knob-kerries, with a pack of howling and yelping dogs at their heels, sprang out from the underwood in hot pursuit.
From Yankee Girls in Zulu Land by Louise Vescelius-Sheldon
Their weapons consisted of rough, ill-made assegais, iron-wood clubs, or knobkerries, and small oval, hide-covered shields.
From The War of the Axe Adventures in South Africa by J. Percy-Groves
Then he asked, quietly and respectfully enough, where the assegais came from.
From The Fire Trumpet A Romance of the Cape Frontier by Bertram Mitford
Many carried assegais, whole or broken, which they had taken as trophies, also bead-work, and other articles of native apparel or adornment.
From The Fire Trumpet A Romance of the Cape Frontier by Bertram Mitford
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
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