matapeen.
/ˈmatəˌpiː/, U.S. /ˈmædəˌpi/, Caribbean English /ˈmataˌpiː/ In Guyana and islands of the Caribbean: a flexible basket in the form of a cylinder, used to squeeze the poisonous juice from cassava pulp.
ΚΠ
1796 J. G. Stedman Narr. Exped. Surinam I. xv. 388 A press to squeeze the wet cassava, called matappy.
1853 A. R. Wallace Trav. on Amazon xvii 339 One [way of catching fish] is by a small cone of wicker, called a ‘matapi’.
1858 P. L. Simmonds Dict. Trade Products 243/1 Matapi, the Indian name in Guiana for a cassava squeezer to press the juice from the root.
1899 J. Rodway In Guiana Wilds 117 The matapee for pressing out the poisonous juice.
1929 H. A. A. Nicholls & J. H. Holland Text-bk. Trop. Agric. (ed. 2) ii. xv. 430 The Indians of Dominica and South America press the pulp by means of curious baskets called matapies. These baskets are made of plaited strips of the long smooth stems of a native plant closely allied to that producing arrowroot.
1980 A. Salkey Caribbean Folk Tales 120 The following day the women collected their gourds, their matapees, warishis and cassava graters.
1997 P. Melville Ventriloquist's Tale (1998) ii. 157 She was in the benab grating cassava and squeezing the mushy pulp through the matapee.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2001; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
<
n.1796