tokoloshe, tikoloshe, noun

/ˈtɔkɔlɔʃ(e)//ˈtɔkəlɔʃ//ˈtɔkəlɔs//ˈtɪkəlɒʃ//ˈtikɔlɔʃ(e)/
Forms:
tagalash, thickolosheShow more Also tagalash, thickoloshe, thikolosh thokoloshe, thikoloshe thokoloshe, thokoloshi, thokolosi, tickelosh, tickoloshe, ticoloshe, tigoloshi, tikaloshi, tikilosh, tikiloshe, tikolosh, tikoloshi, togolosh, tokaloshi, tokelosche, tokilosi, tokolosh, tokoloshi, uthikoloshe, utikoloshe, utokoloshe, and with initial capital.
Origin:
IsiZulu, isiXhosa, SothoShow more IsiZulu utokoloshe, isiXhosa uthikoloshe, Sotho thökölösi, thikoloshi, tikoloshi.
1. In African folklore: a mischievous and lascivious hairy water-sprite or goblin; hili. Also attributive, and (occasionally) figurative (see quotation 1989).
1833 S. Kay Trav. & Researches 339Tikaloshi also is much more frequently and familiarly talked about than amongst the more southern tribes.
1860 W. Shaw Story of my Mission 445The people universally believe that..bad persons may enter into league with wolves, baboons, jackals, and particularly with an imaginary amphibious creature..called by the Border Kaffirs utikoloshe.
1894 E. Glanville Fair Colonist 82Tikoloshe is supposed to be an evil spirit which takes the shape of a small man.
1911 Daily Dispatch 24 Nov. 7One might be dragged into the watery den of the tikolosh.
1918 H. Moore Land of Good Hope 42There is a widespread belief in a ‘bogey man’ called Tickelosh.
1931 F.C. Slater Secret Veld 60In early youth Tuta had been familiar with many old Bantu traditions and superstitions relating to Hili or Tikoloshe. Though invariably spoken of in the singular, Hili are regarded as plural, for they are said to be a race of faun-like, dwarfish male creatures — half men, half beast — who dwell in deep pools and among the reeds and rushes along the banks of flowing rivers.
1937 B.J.F. Laubscher Sex, Custom & Psychopathology 8The best-known and the most common of the mythical figures in the traditional beliefs of the people is the Tikoloshe, who is said to be a mischievous little fellow with aggressive sexual proclivities.
1949 E. Hellmann Handbk on Race Rel. 561Most widely believed in amongst many Nguni tribes is thikoloshe, a small hairy being with baboon-like face, having the form of a man but reaching no higher than man’s knee.
1967 S.M.A. Lowe Hungry Veld 43Incidents in the daily life of the native people, that could not be easily explained, were usually ascribed to the crafty work of the ‘Utokoloshe’.
1968 Drum Sept. 42At his trial Msomi confessed to all the murders and rapes but swore to high heaven that he was forced by a tikoloshi to do the deeds.
1971 Post 7 Mar. 11Soon a huge crowd gathered threatening to stone the hag because she was a tokoloshe.
1976 West & Morris Abantu 20Uthikoloshe, believed to be a short, hairy person of about knee-height with one buttock and a penis so long that it was carried over one shoulder.
1986 City Press 20 Apr. 8 (advt)Lucky charms, business problems, sores,..nightmares, tokoloshe problems, bladder, kidney and heart ailments.
1989 S. Barber in E. Prov. Herald 7 Mar. 4He is possessed by that most prevalent of Washington tokoloshes, the desire for re-election.
1990 J. Knappert Aquarian Guide to Afr. Mythology 241A tikoloshe is a hairy monster, no taller than a baboon...Although it once lived only in the rivers of the Transkei, it has since been seen in Natal and even in the city of Johannesburg.
2. slang. A derogatory name for a policeman.
1972 P. Driscoll Wilby Conspiracy 55‘You got a good chance of going all up the line to the death block at Pretoria Central. And if you don’t, the ore will make you wish you had.’ ‘Who?’ ‘The ears. The jacks. The tokoloshes. The police,’ Shack explained patiently.
a mischievous and lascivious hairy water-sprite or goblin; hili.
A derogatory name for a policeman.
Derivatives:
Hence tokolosh  transitive verb, to curse or bewitch (something); so tokoloshed  participial adjective, cursed, bewitched.
1963 M. Kavanagh We Merry Peasants 59The man..had been disabled,..and given a chance to rest unmolested while he nursed his ‘tokoloshed’ arm.
1988 Informant, Seven Fountains, Eastern CapeDo you know if the farm has been tokoloshed?
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18331990

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tokolosh
tokoloshed

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Traditional African Religion and Culture
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derogatory or offensive
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tokkelok, nounn.tok-tokkie, nounn.
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