impi
noun
(in South African history) a unit of Zulu warriors; regiment.
impis
-
pluralof impi.plural
The grammatical form denoting more than one person, place, thing, or idea.
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.
The British had divided Zululand into 13 ineffectual kingdoms whose impis endlessly clashed for a power no longer there.
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
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
Some of the men in the impis winked and grinned at us as we passed.
From "Kaffir Boy: An Autobiography" by Mark Mathabane
But as grizzled as Chief Joyi often seemed, the decades fell off him when he spoke of the young impis, or warriors, in the army of King Ngangelizwe fighting the British.
From "Long Walk to Freedom" by Nelson Mandela
