Mlimon.

1896 in Jrnl. Afr. Hist. (1977) 18 81 (note) We have been told that Lobengula which is really the Mlimo impersonating Lobengula claiming to be King and God will send his army when the corn is reaped.

1897 J. Bryce Impressions S. Afr. x. 111 In several tribes the word, differently spelled ‘Umlimo’ or ‘Mlimo’ or ‘Molimo’, (said to mean ‘hidden’ or ‘unseen’) is used to denote either a power apparently different from that of the nature sprites..or else the prophet or soothsayer.

1977 Jrnl. Afr. Hist. 18 81 Company officials and afterwards imperial officers began to attribute to the ‘Mlimos’ the most astonishing powers.

1897 R. S. S. Baden-Powell Matabele Campaign 31 The M'limo is an invisible god, who has three priests about the country.

1909 Jrnl. Royal Anthropol. Inst. 39 542 When they see one [sc. a shooting star] they say I-i-i Tobela, this being one of the praise names for their Mlimo or god.

1912 C. Gouldsbury Songs out of Exile 118 I pay my oxen down And take my womenkind, as men have done Since first 'Mlimo set the flaming sun Up in the sky.

1955 E. C. Tabler Far Interior iv. 112 These magicians were diviners and hereditary priests of the cult of Mwari (Sintabele, Mlimo), a deity that was believed to have made the world and therefore controlled the rain... Lobengula, who seems to have had no faith in the Mlimo, nevertheless refrained from wiping out this nest of tricky parasites.

1965 L. H. Gann Hist. S. Rhodesia iv. 128 The Matabele, have settled north of the Limpopo, transferred their allegiance from Nkulunkulu, the Zulu high god, to Mlimo, the Karanga deity.

1965 L. H. Gann Hist. S. Rhodesia iv. 129 Mlimo originally appears to have been regarded as some remote deus abscondidus, the Ancient of Days, who took no notice of tribal affairs... But when the Matabele fell on evil days the god gained increasing political importance.

1973 Standard Encycl. Southern Afr. VIII. 122/2 The Ndebele have knowledge of a Supreme Being, Zimu or Mlimu, who resides in heaven and is the creator and universal ruler.

1992 Sunday Times (Nexis) 23 Feb. (Style & Travel section) 7/4 Njelele, the holy place of Mlimo, the Great God, where for centuries Africans came to worship.