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assegai

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assegai

, assagai
a southern African cornaceous tree, Curtisia faginea, the wood of which is used for making spears
Collins Discovery Encyclopedia, 1st edition © HarperCollins Publishers 2005
References in periodicals archive
The Empire-grabbing reasons for being there may have been dubious, but I always think of the ordinary soldier, thousands of miles from home, in the fierce heat, listening to the menacing buzz of 4,000 assegais in the distance, beating against ox-hide shields as the Zulus advanced.
Officials also failed to acknowledge the power of Zulu warriors with their assegai (long thrusting spears).
"Without a word, he took my foreskin, pulled it forward, and then, in a single motion, brought down his assegai. I felt as if fire was shooting through my veins, the pain was so intense that I buried my chin into my chest.
Elsie was not happy about living so far from civilisation, bearing the scars from a Zulu assegai attack in South Africa.
I dance wildly inside myself; I yell within, I whoop; I shake my assegai (33) above my head, I hurl it true to the mark yeeeeooww!
He had seen that the traditional type of spear, a long-handled known as assegai thrown from a distance, was not the best for the regulated fighting in close formation he introduced and therefore replaced it with iklwa, a short stabbing spear with a long, sword-like spearhead.
Its warriors were armed with assegai thrusting spears, man-sized cowhide shields, clubs, and throwing spears.
"I had three assegai wounds, two in the right side and one in the left but after a long time of fighting at the door we made them retire, and then we made our escape out of the building.
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