Navahov.
/ˈnavəhəʊ/, U.S. /ˈnɑvəˌhoʊ/, /ˈnævəˌhoʊ/ transitive. In cat's cradle and other games involving string: to perform a complex looping manoeuvre (see quot. 1911 for Navahoing n. at Derivatives), characteristic of the string figures made by Navajo Indians.
ΚΠ
1911 [see Navahoing n. at Derivatives].
1920 W. W. Rouse Ball Introd. to String Figures 20 This movement is not uncommon; it was first discovered among the Navaho Indians: hence it is called Navahoing the Loop.
1933 W. H. Auden Eng. Auden (1986) 133 Busy doing cat's cradles—The one they all called the Professor..went on muttering, ‘I was right: at Position A Navaho index strings—Yes, this must be the way.’
1985 Sci. Amer. May 111/1 For example, suppose you have just Navahoed the loops on a thumb and one of the loops also passes around the index finger.
Derivatives
ˈNavahoing n.
ΚΠ
1911 K. Haddon Cat's Cradles from Many Lands 5 When there are two loops on a digit, a distal one and a proximal one, you are often required to lift the proximal loop over the distal one, and over the tip of the digit on to its palmar aspect. This movement I refer to as ‘Navahoing’ on account of its frequent occurrence among the string figures of the Navaho Indians.
This is a new entry (OED Third Edition, June 2003; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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v.1911- to sack down
- to sack in
- to sack out
- to sacrifice a person at the altar of
- to sacrifice a person on the altar of
- to sacrifice a thing at the altar of
- to sacrifice a thing on the altar of
- to sacrifice at the altar of
- to sacrifice on the altar of
- to saddle a person's nose
- to saddle a person's nose with spectacles
- to saddle and bridle
- to saddle off
- to saddle up
- to safe hand
- to safeguard of
- to sag to leeward
- to sail all in one ship
- to sail by the log
- to sail close to the wind
- to sail down
- to sail for guam
- to sail foreign
- to sail in
- to sail in the same boat