knobkerrie, knobkierie, noun

/ˈnɒbkeri//ˈnɔbkeri//ˈnɒbkiri/
Forms:
knobcarrie, knobcaryShow more Also knobcarrie, knobcary, knob-keerie, knobkerry, knob-kiêri, knobkierie, knobkierrie, knobkirrie, knob-kurrie, nob kerie, nob kerry.
Origin:
English, South African Dutch, AfrikaansShow more English knob + kerrie, (anglicized form of) kierie (see kierie), after South African Dutch (later Afrikaans) knopkierie.
kierie. Also attributive, and figurative.
1844 United Service Mag. July 337With the precious book..in one hand, and his knob-kurrie in the other, away he trudged.
1849 E.D.H.E. Napier Excursions in Sn Afr. II. 82The ‘knob keerie’..hurled with unerring aim, brings the smaller animals to the ground.
1855 J.W. Colenso Ten Weeks in Natal p.xviiThe Boers, their sons, and servants, were all massacred, being knocked upon the head with knob-kirries.
1855 N.J. Merriman Cape Jrnls (1957) 224This man had..destroyed many of his subjects by the cruel death usual in the case of those who are accused of withcraft — viz., roasting by a slow fire, and beating to death with Nob Keries.
a1867 C.J. Andersson Notes of Trav. (1875) 181If a gun be not at hand, a blow with a knob-kiêri on the nose or chest will prove sufficient.
1878 T.J. Lucas Camp Life & Sport 94The game..is eventually despatched with ‘knob kerries,’ and ‘assegais’, the former, a long knobbed stick of heavy wood, which they throw with great dexterity.
1882 S. Heckford Lady Trader in Tvl 133A stick with a heavy knob at the end of it, here called a ‘knob-kirrie’.
1905 Native Tribes of Tvl 129‘Knob-kerries’ (clubs or throwing sticks) are..in general use by the natives. They throw the lighter varieties with some skill.
1920 R.Y. Stormberg Mrs Pieter de Bruyn 19Her hair..would be quite pretty if she didn’t drag it so painfully to the back of her head, screwing it up into a knobkerrie lump and stabbing it through with hideous black hairpins.
1948 O. Walker Kaffirs Are Lively 164They..beat him with a knobkerrie — heavy knobbed stick — and left him lying dead.
1963 S. Cloete Rags of Glory 518A group of men armed with rifles and battle-axes, knobkerries and assagais rode threateningly toward them and watched them ride by.
1971 Argus 5 June (Weekend Mag.) 2A sandy-haired, blue-eyed Afrikaner..unbeatable in knob-kierie fighting.
1987 Sunday Times 6 Sept. 7A knobless stick carried to indicate peace, in contrast to the knobkierie which was an instrument of war.
1990 M. Kentridge Unofficial War 52Inkatha vigilantes use a variety of weapons. The most common are the knobkerrie — a wooden stave with a heavy bulb at one end — and the assegai — a short stabbing spear used in hand-to hand combat.
1993 [see NP sense 2].
kierie. Also attributive, and figurative.
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figurative or allusive
knobby thorn, noun phrasen. phr.knobkerrie, verb transitivev.
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