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mau-mau

1 American  
[mou-mou] / ˈmaʊˌmaʊ /

verb (used with object)

Slang.

  1. to terrorize, intimidate, or threaten.

Mau Mau 2 American  
[mou mou] / ˈmaʊ ˌmaʊ /

noun

plural

Mau Maus,

plural

Mau Mau

  1. a member of a revolutionary society in Kenya, established in the early 1950s, that consisted chiefly of Kikuyu and engaged in terrorist activities in an attempt to drive out the European settlers and to give government control to the native Kenyans.

Mau Mau British  
/ ˈmaʊ ˌmaʊ /

noun

  1. a secret political society consisting chiefly of Kikuyu tribesmen that was founded in 1952 to drive European settlers from Kenya by acts of terrorism

  2. slang a Ugandan motorcycle policeman who directs traffic

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of mau-mau1

1970; coined by Tom Wolfe in Radical Chic and Mau-Mauing the Flak Catchers; Mau Mau

Origin of Mau Mau2

From Kikuyu

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

We wrote at the time about the campaign to mau-mau the Chief, and now we know it was orchestrated.

From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 14, 2016

Chameleon-voiced as usual, and still given to Homeric catalogues and hang-ten metaphors, Wolfe inhabits an imaginary mau-mau character as he gleefully recalls some of the finer techniques.

From Time Magazine Archive

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.