datu
Americannoun
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of datu
First recorded in 1925–30; from Tagalog datu, dato “landowner, head of a clan or tribe”; akin to dato ( def. )
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.
He says the chests were given to him by a datu, or tribal chief.
From BusinessWeek • Jan. 18, 2012
Therefore they must wait until every datu from the farthest Moro island had arrived.
From Time Magazine Archive
At that time no offerings were made to the spirits on the second day, but the people feasted and drank while the datu gathered a little apart and held a council.
From The Wild Tribes of Davao District, Mindanao The R. F. Cummings Philippine Expedition by Cole, Fay-Cooper
Since all the people assist in the support of the datu they consider his home to be, to a certain extent, their own and make use of it and its furnishings without question.
From The Wild Tribes of Davao District, Mindanao The R. F. Cummings Philippine Expedition by Cole, Fay-Cooper
Guests gather from near and far and for two or three days, feast, dance, and make merry in the house of the datu.
From The Wild Tribes of Davao District, Mindanao The R. F. Cummings Philippine Expedition by Cole, Fay-Cooper
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.
