impi
Americannoun
-
impies,
plural
-
impis
plural
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of impi
1875–80; < Zulu: impi, armed force, battle
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:
Within a year, his modest impi of 350 warriors had swollen to 2,000.
From Time Magazine Archive
The impi covered the distance at a dead run.
From Time Magazine Archive
As they swung it to their shoulders the impi saluted.
From Adventures in Swaziland The Story of a South African Boer by Owen Rowe O'Neil
Just at sunset, two days later, one of our Mapors ran in and reported that a small impi of Swazis was coming down the valley.
From Adventures in Swaziland The Story of a South African Boer by Owen Rowe O'Neil
The impi again gave the royal salute and a second later had departed, swallowed up by the night.
From Adventures in Swaziland The Story of a South African Boer by Owen Rowe O'Neil
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
De Klerk, moreover, has expressed ambivalence when Zulu war parties known as impis have paraded provocatively through township streets carrying spears and other so-called cultural weapons.
From Time Magazine Archive
The British had divided Zululand into 13 ineffectual kingdoms whose impis endlessly clashed for a power no longer there.
From Time Magazine Archive
Some of the men in the impis winked and grinned at us as we passed.
From "Kaffir Boy: An Autobiography" by Mark Mathabane
For some unknown reason, I was fearful of the place and wanted to turn back, but the sight, nearby, of shirtless, muscular impis engaged in mock fights using spears and knobkerries made me stay.
From "Kaffir Boy: An Autobiography" by Mark Mathabane
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