1 September 2016

sjambok

[sham-bok, -buhk]

noun

1. (in southern Africa) a heavy whip, usually of rhinoceros hide.
verb (used with object)
2. to whip with or as if with such a whip.

Origin of sjambok

Afrikaans Malay Hindi
1820-1830; < Afrikaans s (j) ambok < Malay cambuk whip < Hindi cābuk

Dictionary.com

Examples from the Web for sjambok

Contemporary example

‘Security! Beat this person with a sjambok’
Have you heard the one about the piece of string?
First Dog on the Moon
26 August 2016

Historical Examples

They generally carry a sjambok, a strip of rhinoceros hide about three feet long and an inch thick.
Seven Legs Across the Seas
Samuel Murray

sjambok occurs in 17th-century accounts of India in the form chawbuck.
The Romance of Words (4th ed.)
Ernest Weekley

I exerted all my powers of persuasion to arrest the flight of my burghers; even bringing the sjambok into the argument.
Three Years’ War
Christiaan Rudolf de Wet

Anagram

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Today’s quote

The world is a hellish place, and bad writing is destroying the quality of our suffering.

– Tom Waits

On this day

1 September 1875 – birth of Edgar Rice Burroughs, American science fiction author: Tarzan, Mars series (on which the 2012 movie ‘John Carter‘ was based).

1 September 1939 – official commencement date of World War II, when Germany invaded Poland.