释义 |
Matabele|mætəˈbiːliː| Also 9 Matabeli, Matabili. [Native name.] 1. A people of Zulu stock living in Rhodesia; also, a member of this people. Also attrib. or as adj. Cf. Ndebele. (See also quot. 1925.)
1823R. Moffat Jrnl. 27 May in I. Schapera Apprenticeship at Kuruman (1951) iv. 84 Several men from the Barolongs had just passed them on their way to Mahumapeloo to request their assistance..to endeavor to make the Matabeles retreat. 1835A. Smith Diary 16 June (1940) II. 75 Most of the people appeared to be the original inhabitants of the country, having a different look to the Matabeli. 1839W. C. Harris Wild Sports S. Afr. iv. 22 The country of Moselekatse, king of the Abaka Zooloos, or Matabili. Ibid. xiv. 111 Numerous Matabili villages. 1854R. Moffat Matabele Jrnls. (1945) I. 319 Scarcely a child is to be seen in a real Matabele town. 1894Jrnl. Anthrop. Inst. XXIII. 83 As soon as a Matabele is dead his relations tie the corpse in a blanket. 1896F. C. Selous Sunshine & Storm Rhodesia viii. 64, I should not be at all surprised to see it stated that the rebellion was caused by the inhuman behaviour of the white men in Rhodesia, who, it will be said, were in the habit of shooting down the poor, meek, inoffensive Matabele. 1919H. H. Johnston Compar. Study Bantu & Semi-Bantu Lang. I. v. 798 Tebele (Sindebele). This dialect of the Matabele (Amandebele) Zulus [etc.]. 1925A. Werner in J. A. MacCulloch Mythol. all Races VII. ii. vii. 246 There are various tribes of ogres having only one arm and one leg, while others..have not this peculiarity. The Basuto call the former class of beings ‘Matabele’—probably from having come to look on their dreaded enemies, the Zulu tribe of that name, as something scarcely human. 1936Discovery June 172/1 The Xulu-Xosa (including the so-called ‘Kaffirs’, and the Matabele). 1967T. O. Ranger Revolt in S. Rhodesia i. 38 While the Company made use of the missionaries for its own ends, employing them to obtain a favourable press for the Matabele war, Company officials themselves shared these missionary beliefs. 1972Police Rev. 24 Nov. 1521/1 Cecil John Rhodes..began negotiating with Lobengula, king of the Matabele. 2. Matabele ant, a large, black, stinging ant, Megaponera foetens, found in Rhodesia.
1924E. Step Go to Ant xiii. 193 One of these [stink ants] is the Stink Ant proper (Paltothyreus tarsatus) and the other is the Matabele Ant (Megaponera foetens). 1932Discovery July 225/2 The big black Matabele ant, Megaponera foetens, often marched through our camp in military formation. 1953S. H. Skaife Afr. Insect Life xxii. 361 The Matabele ant, Megaponera foetens, is one of the largest and best-known members of this sub-family [sc. the Ponerinæ]. |