Word of the Day

: August 8, 2008

mau-mau

verb MOW-mow (the "ow" is as in "cow")

What It Means

1 : to intimidate (as an official) by hostile confrontation or threats

2 : to engage in mau-mauing someone

mau-mau in Context

"Going downtown to mau-mau the bureaucrats got to be the routine practice in San Francisco." (Tom Wolfe, Radical Chic & Mau-mauing the Flak Catchers)

Did You Know?

The Mau Mau was a militant secret society that operated in colonial Kenya during the 1950s. The ferocity with which Mau Mau terrorists rebelled against British rule was well-documented by national news sources, like Newsweek and Time, and by 1970 "Mau Mau" had become synonymous with "hostile intimidation," especially when used for social or political gain. Novelist Tom Wolfe was the first to use "mau-mau" in print as a word for "intimidate."