Mau Mau

¹ American  

[mou mou] / ˈmaʊ ˌmaʊ /

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.

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mau-mau ² American  

[mou-mou] / ˈmaʊˌmaʊ /

verb (used with object)

Slang.

1. to terrorize, intimidate, or threaten.

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Mau Mau British  

/ 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

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Etymology

Origin of Mau Mau¹

From Kikuyu

Origin of mau-mau¹

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

Example Sentences

He witnessed those effects in person, growing up during Kenya’s Mau Mau uprising, an armed guerrilla insurgency that resisted British colonial rule and land ownership.

From The Wall Street Journal

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.

From BBC

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

From BBC

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

From BBC

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

From BBC