thuggee

American

[thuhg-ee, thuh-gee] / ˈθʌg i, θʌˈgi /

noun

(sometimes initial capital letter)

(in India) robbery and strangulation committed by thugs.

thuggee British

/ θʌˈɡiː /

noun

history the methods and practices of the thugs of India

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of thuggee

First recorded in 1830–40, thuggee is from the Hindi word thagī

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.

We are not likely to be getting a Short Round solo movie anytime soon, though I wouldn’t mind seeing Temple of Doom’s heart-ripping thuggee cultist Mola Ram back for another go-around.

From The Guardian

"There was a gang of criminals known as the thuggee."

From BBC

A group of these fiends would seem to have fled into Burma; so that the mysterious epidemic in Rangoon was really an outbreak of thuggee—on slightly improved lines!

From Project Gutenberg

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023