stengah
(ˈstɛŋə)
Also stingah.
[ad. Mal. setengah half.]
A half measure of whisky with soda (sometimes water), popular amongst the British in Malaysia.
| 1899 Munsey's Mag. XXI. 697/1 The majority of young Englishmen and Germans fared equally well when they limited the numbers of whiskies and sodas (or ‘stengahs’) which they drank. 1903 W. Del Mar Around World through Japan vii. 64 A ‘peg’ of whiskey and tonic-water, followed by a stengah (the Malay word for half, usually pronounced stinger) or split drink. 1927 Blackw. Mag. June 726/1 At this establishment we learn all about gin-slings and ‘Stingahs’. 1948 M. Laski Tory Heaven i. 14 Stewards..to bring him..stengahs and pahits when⁓ever he wanted them. 1966 D. Forbes Heart of Malaya xiii. 156 Malays could not be seen publicly knocking back stengahs. 1975 ‘G. Black’ Big Wind i. 18 When I was a boy in Malaysia a whisky-soda was called a stengah. It hasn't been for twenty-five years. |