beshu, noun

/ˈbeːʃu/
Forms:
bechu, betshuShow more Also bechu, betshu, iBeshu, ibetshu, ibheshu.
Origin:
IsiZuluShow more From isiZulu ibeshu (plural amabeshu); see also i-.
A hide flap covering the buttocks, worn especially by Zulu men on ceremonial occasions. Cf. mutsha.
1949 O. Walker Proud Zulu (1951) 19Cattle were their bride-price, their security...They were hides for their great war-shields...They were betshus to cover their buttocks and aprons to cover the pregnant women.
1955 E.A. Ritter Shaka Zulu 18He now donned the umutsha, and the ibetshu (an apron of soft skin and similar size) to cover his buttocks.
1967 O. Walker Hippo Poacher 101At the weekend the girls would usually shuffle up in their best bead aprons, and the young men in their courting betshus of black and white and brown and white calf-skins.
1974 C.T. Binns Warrior People 208The iBeshu is usually made of dressed calf-skin, cut to a length of about 15 inches, with a breadth of approximately 12 inches, and acts as a loosely hanging apron which covers the buttocks. This is also suspended from the belt.
1986 New Nation 17 July 13Traditional dancers better start shaking the dust from their ‘beshus’ and ‘gumboots’ for dance competitions to be held..at Manyeleti Beer Garden.
1994 B. Khumalo in Weekly Mail & Guardian 1 July 26Walt [Disney] and his hangers-on at Ster Kinekor..were launching a dubbed version of..The Lion King. This was intended to be a real jungle event, with the invitation encouraging me to come dressed in either a black tie or traditional dress. For me traditional dress would have been a loincloth and an ibheshu — you’ve seen it in all the bad ‘Zooloo’ movies. The problem was that I don’t have the masochistic inclination to walk around in a loincloth in the cold.
A hide flap covering the buttocks, worn especially by Zulu men on ceremonial occasions.
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IsiZulu
besem-riet, nounn.beskuit, nounn.
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