Definition of "assegai" []

• A light spear or lance, especially one with a short shaft and long blade for close combat, used by Bantu peoples of southern Africa. (noun)
• A southern African tree (Curtisia dentata) having wood used for making spears or lances. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Another example, the Zulu warriors that fought the British over in Africa used the assegai, which is really just a fancy spear and couldn't make any Spartan jaws drop in awe, maybe in laughter or curiosity, but certainly not in awe."
• "Bushman (who does not desire to kill them!) and the slender "assegai" of the Bechuana, the lion has little or no fear of man."
• "The sergeant, in the act of climbing over the tailboard, let out a hell of a shriek; I glimpsed his face, red and staring, and his arm flung out to point, and then his eyes stared horribly, and he slumped down into the dust, with a throwing assegai between his shoulders, his limbs thrashing wildly."