simi
(ˈsɪmɪ)
[ad. Swahili sime.]
In East Africa: a large knife; a short two-edged sword (see also quot. 1980).
| 1955 Times 7 June 6/6 Small boys in feathers, with cowbells at their ankles and brandishing tiny simis (swords), stamp and dance in circles. 1961 Encounter Jan. 24/2 He had killed two of the Masai morans..cutting the throat of the other with his simi. 1977 D. Beaty Excellency ix. 108 An African was..holding up a thin-bladed simi knife. 1980 Times 3 Apr. 8/1 Mrs Joy Adamson, the naturalist and authoress of Born Free, was murdered with a simi (a two-edged farming implement like a sword), and an iron bar, a police witness said. |