donga
Americannoun
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(in an ice shelf ) a small ravine with steep sides.
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(in South Africa) an eroded ravine; a dry watercourse.
noun
noun
Etymology
Origin of donga
1875–80; < Nguni (compare Zulu u(lu)donga ); perhaps directly < a pidginized form with loss of the class prefix, as Fanagalo donga
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.
It was perched unpretentiously on the edge of a donga, one of many similar shacks on Eighth Avenue.
From "Kaffir Boy: An Autobiography" by Mark Mathabane
One night our dingy shack, which had been leaning precipitously on the edge of a donga, collapsed.
From "Kaffir Boy: An Autobiography" by Mark Mathabane
He hurled them across the donga, and they landed in the middle of the street, a few paces from the approaching policeman and his naked captive.
From "Kaffir Boy: An Autobiography" by Mark Mathabane
Every hunter has seen a whole troop, old and young, following the example of the leader, clear a road or donga twenty feet wide, apparently in an effortless stride.
From Jock of the Bushveld by Fitzpatrick, Percy, Sir
Field-Cornet Wessels was ordered to attack it from the town side, and he began, when the sun was already rapidly sinking in the west, to approach it from a donga.
From Through Shot and Flame The Adventures and Experiences of J. D. Kestell Chaplain to President Steyn and General Christian De Wet by Kestell, J. D. (John Daniel)
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.
