mau-mau

¹

[mou-mou]

verb (used with object)

Slang.

1. to terrorize, intimidate, or threaten.

Mau Mau

²

[mou mou]

noun

plural

Mau Maus ,

plural

Mau Mau .

1. a member of a revolutionary society in Kenya, established in the early 1950s, that consisted chiefly of Kikuyu and engaged in terrorist activities in an attempt to drive out the European settlers and to give government control to the native Kenyans.

Mau Mau

/ ˈmaʊ ˌmaʊ /

noun

1. a secret political society consisting chiefly of Kikuyu tribesmen that was founded in 1952 to drive European settlers from Kenya by acts of terrorism

2. slang,  a Ugandan motorcycle policeman who directs traffic

Word History and Origins

Origin of mau-mau¹

1970; coined by Tom Wolfe in Radical Chic and Mau-Mauing the Flak Catchers; Mau Mau

Origin of mau-mau²

From Kikuyu

Example Sentences

The Palestinian petitioners seek to build on previous concessions made by the UK over colonial-era war crimes, including this year's apology for the 1948 Batang Kali massacre in Malaya and the settlement over abuses of Kenyans during the Mau Mau uprising of the 1950s.

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His family members were among the hundreds and thousands forced to live in detention camps during a crackdown on the Mau Mau, a movement of independence fighters.

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The Mau Mau uprising, which lasted from 1952 to 1960, touched Ngũgĩ's life in numerous, devastating ways.

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Gachagua has often identified himself as a child of the Mau Mau freedom fighters, who battled British colonial rule.

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The Kenya Land and Freedom Army, known as the Mau Mau, were fighting for independence from British colonial rule.

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