ringed, adjective

Origin:
From ring noun1.
Wearing a head-ring; of an age or status such that one is allowed to wear such a ring. Also combination ringed-head, ringkop sense a.
1850 [see kehla sense 1].
1877 Lady Barker Yr’s Hsekeeping 120When a chief or the induna of a kraal passes this way, I see him clad in a motley garb of old regimentals, with his bare ‘ringed’ head, riding a sorry nag.
1913 C. Pettman Africanderisms 403Zulu men are distinguished from boys by a head-ring. The head is shaved all but a narrow strip quite round, the hair along this strip is worked up with gum, etc., into a black polished ring called isiCoco...The sanction of the chief is required before a man can become a Kehla..or ‘ringed’ man.
1930 S.T. Plaatje Mhudi (1975) 131Several ‘ringed-heads’ raised their voices on purpose that their words should reach the ears of the king.
1951 R. Griffiths Grey about Flame 126Warriors lounged in the yellow sunlight, flirting openly with the girls and paying no heed when M’Busi, a ringed Induna, stalked contemptuously among them.
1970 P.B. Clements in Outpost 45Shortly after our arrival, an old ‘ringed’ induna from a neighbouring kraal came to us and told us that the impis had withdrawn and that a big ‘white impi’ was marching in our direction from the mission station about thirty miles away.
Wearing a head-ring; of an age or status such that one is allowed to wear such a ring. Also combination ringed-head, ringkop sense a.
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18771970

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Traditional African Religion and Culture
ring, nounn.2Ringkommissie, nounn.
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