sumpitan
(ˈsʌmpɪtən)
Forms: 7 sempitan, zampatan, 9 sumputan, sumpitan.
[a. Malay sumpītan, f. sumpit (see prec.); in Du. soempitan.
The possibility of connexion between the Malay sumpītan and Arabic sabaṭāna (see cebratane, sarbacane) has been suggested.]
A blow-gun made by the Malays from a hollowed cane, from which poisoned arrows are shot.
| 1634 Sir T. Herbert Trav. 199 They [of Celebes] all vse long Canes (they call them Sempitans)..out of which they can blow a little pricking-piercing quill. a 1680 Butler Charac., Glutton (1908) 192 His Entrails are like the Sarcophagus, that devours dead Bodies in a small Space, or the Indian Zampatan, that consumes Flesh in a Moment. 1837 Newbold in Phil. Trans. CXXVII. 427 The slender arrows propelled from the S{uacu}mpitan, or blow-pipe. 1844 J. Tomlin Miss. Jrnls. 84 A sumputan, or blow-pipe, and a quiver of arrows. 1882 H. De Windt Equator 88 A hollow tube eight feet long called by the Poonans ‘sumpitan’, the chief weapon of this tribe. |