kierie, noun

/ˈkiri/
Forms:
care, carrieShow more Also care, carrie, cary, karie, karrie, keeri, keerie, keree, keri, kerie, kerre, kerri, kerrie, kerry, kieri, kierrie, kiri, kirie, kirri, kirrie, kurie, kurrie.
Origin:
Khoikhoi, NamaShow more Adaptation of Khoikhoi karrie, keeri, keerie, kirri, kurie (cf. Nama /káru-p, /káru-s) (walking) stick.
Note:
The Afrikaans-influenced kierie has displaced kerrie as the most common orthography; however kerrie is still seen in knobkerrie.
A traditional weapon of the indigenous peoples of South Africa: a short, thick stick with a knobbed head, used as a club or missile (but also as a walking stick); fighting stick sense 2; induku; knobkerrie; knob-stick; knopkierie; knopstick. Also attributive, and combination. kierie-play noun, kierie-toting participial adjective (objective), kierie-stick (obsolete).
1731 G. Medley tr. of P. Kolben’s Present State of Cape of G.H. I. 188In their Right Hands, when they go abroad, they generally carry Two Sticks of Iron- or Olive-Wood. One they call Kirri...The Kirri is about Three Foot long; and about an Inch thick.
1731 G. Medley tr. of P. Kolben’s Present State of Cape of G.H. I. 292The Hottentots use their Kirri- and Rackum-Sticks..as martial Weapons...The Kirri-Sticks are for Warding off the Arrows..and Whatever is thrown by the Enemy.
1731 G. Medley tr. of P. Kolben’s Present State of Cape of G.H. I. 330The women rarely trouble themselves to interpose when the men fight only with Kirri sticks.
1786 G. Forster tr. of A. Sparrman’s Voy. to Cape of G.H. II. 9They were all of them armed with one or more of the javelins, which they call hassagais, as well as with short sticks, to which they gave the name of kirris.
1812 A. Plumptre tr. of H. Lichtenstein’s Trav. in Sn Afr. (1928) I. 218A short stick of Hassagai wood, so cut, that a knob is made at the end by a part of the thick root of this stem. With the latter weapon, which the Hottentots call a Kirri, they turn aside the Hassagai by a strong side blow. They use the Kirri equally as a weapon of defence, in the way of a bludgeon, when they come to close fighting.
a1823 J. Ewart Jrnl (1970) 50Their arms consist of a long spear called a hassagai which they throw in the manner of a javelin..and a small club called a keerie which they use when closely engaged.
1833 Graham’s Town Jrnl 4 Apr. 3A Caffer..struck him several blows with a kierie.
1835 J.W.D. Moodie Ten Yrs in S. Afr. II. 269They also show great dexerity in throwing the ‘kurie,’ which is a stick with a large knob on the end of it.
1836 R. Godlonton Narr. of Irruption 48The others said ‘Stop, we will beat him to death with our kierries.’
1841 B. Shaw Memorials 300They had but one musket, which Keudo took himself, his companions being armed with their assagais and keeries.
1857 N.J. Merriman Cape Jrnls (1957) 90After a little talk, on his admiring my kerie, a walking stick, I proposed an exchange with him.
a1858 J. Goldswain in L.F. Casson Dialect of Jeremiah Goldswain (1955) 39Thear Cares or knobed sticks.
1891 T.R. Beattie Pambaniso 134The youths..had prevailed upon the chiefs to allow them to display their skill with the kerries, or long sticks.
1918 C. Garstin Sunshine Settlers 240What is this woman talk? This is no Kaffir kerrie-play; it is a white man’s war I tell you of.
1931 V. Sampson Kom Binne 139The kerrie..was a heavy stick two and a half feet long, with a round knob at one end, as large as an orange;..a most dangerous bludgeon in the hands of a Kaffir.
1942 S. Cloete Hill of Doves 622In his hand he carried a black-and-white ox-hide shield,..two long assegais, a short stabbing spear, and a kerrie.
1953 D. Jacobson Long Way from London 61Twelve black policemen, armed with heavy kieries.
1953 D. Jacobson Long Way from London 168He stooped low to pick up his cane, a slender kierie of dark African wood.
1959 Cape Times 10 Nov. 1Two other Europeans had been discharged after being treated for kierie wounds.
1963 L.F. Freed Crime in S. Afr. 76Police squads have often to carry our day-and-night raids to stop the illicit liquor traffic, and also to suppress the stabbing and kerrie fights which invariably ensue.
1976 M. Tholo in C. Hermer Diary of Maria Tholo (1980) 59They said, ‘It was your children who made us stay away from work and lose our pay and now you go to work...’ And their kieries got busy.
1977 F.G. Butler Karoo Morning 55Brandishing his kerrie.
1982 Sunday Times 28 Nov. (Mag. Sect.) 17Dangerous tribesmen, for example, kierie-toting Zulus or South Sothos.
1985 Argus 31 Aug.He’s the kierie king, is 75-year-old Abraham de Vries...Oom Abraham knows all the secrets of kierie craft.
1986 Pace May 4She chased them out of the house naked while letting fly with a kirrie.
1990 Tribute Sept. 56The search for political support and group survival through the barrel of the gun..the point of the spear, or the knob of a kierie.
1993 A.P. Brink First Life of Adamastor 21I jumped at him and grabbed the karba; but when I turned round there was a half-moon of people waiting with their kieries.
1993 A.P. Brink First Life of Adamastor 88In one kierie fight two men were badly wounded, and afterwards no one could explain what had caused it in the first place.
A traditional weapon of the indigenous peoples of South Africa: a short, thick stick with a knobbed head, used as a club or missile (but also as a walking stick); fighting stick sense 2; induku; knobkerrie; knob-stick; knopkierie; knopstick. Also attributive, and combination. kierie-play noun, kierie-toting participial adjective (objective), kierie-stick (obsolete).
Derivatives:
Hence (nonce) kierie  transitive verb, to beat (someone) with a kierie.
1897 J.P. Fitzpatrick Outspan 97You had a lucky escape. Umketch would have had you kerried.
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17311993

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kierie, v.

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kiepersol, nounn.kiesieblaar, nounn.
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