gashle, adverb

/ˈɡɑːʃli/‖/ɡɑːɬe/
Forms:
gahle, gahléShow more Also gahle, gahlé, garshly, kahale, kahle.
Origin:
IsiXhosa, isiZuluShow more Englished form of isiXhosa and isiZulu kahle well, nicely, sweetly, gently, in peace, pleasantly, carefully.
colloquial
Carefully, gently. Also in the verbal phrase go gashle, hamba kahle (hamba sense 2 b).
1898 B. Mitford Induna’s Wife 230As they were dragging him roughly over the ground Sifadu interposed. ‘Gahlé, brothers. Do not bruise him.’
1907 J.P. Fitzpatrick Jock of Bushveld (Glossary) 471Kahle, (pro[nounced] kaa-shle, corrupted in kitchen Kaffir to ‘gaashly’)..gently, carefully, pleasantly, well.
1948 O. Walker Kaffirs Are Lively 94‘Gahle!’ (‘gently’) hissed the official, and I braked the car until we were crawling.
1970 Y. Winters Informant, KimberleyHe is getting old and will have to take it kahle now. Transvaalers pronounce it garshlie.
1970 E.G.B. Hardy Informant, Cape Town, Western CapeGo garshly. Be careful. From Zulu (?) Hamba Kahle — ‘go well’. A normal form of leave-taking.
1971 L.G. Green Taste of S.-Easter 103That happy period when everyone poured his own measure. The barman is gazing anxiously at the glass and saying: ‘Gashle, colonel!’
1980 O. Musi in M. Mutloatse Forced Landing 180When they speak from their lofty heights our rulers get carried away. One utterance, an oft-repeated one, was that the law would go kahle on the pass laws.
1984 Pretoria News 4 Apr. 21‘We were shot. And Magogogo, he has died.’ ‘Kahle,’ the women encourage him. ‘Don’t worry. Malembe’s small bus comes soon.’
1991 B. Fargher Informant, Grahamstown (now Makhanda, Eastern Cape)We need to go garshly and move slowly on this one.
Carefully, gently. Also in the verbal phrase go gashle, hamba kahle (hamba sense 2 b).
Entry Navigation

Visualise Quotations

Quotation summary

Senses

18981991
garter snake, noun phrasen. phr.gat, nounn.
Copyright © 2025 Dictionary Unit for South African English