kraal

plural kraals · alternative crawl

1. In Central and Southern Africa, a small rural community.

   ‘The paraffin box covered with newsprint, and the primus, and the bucket standing on the floor, and a photo of our kraal’s chief on the wall.’

   1979, André Brink, A Dry White Season, Vintage, published 1998, page 88

   1 more example

   Onanis is the permanent residence of a kraal of very poor Hill-Damaras, who subsist chiefly upon the few wild roots which their sterile neighborhood produces.

   1861, Charles John Andersson, “chapter VII”, in Lake Ngami, page 89

2. In Central and Southern Africa, a rural village of huts surrounded by a stockade.

   A kraal was a homestead and usually included a simple fenced-in enclosure for animals, fields for growing crops, and one or more thatched huts.

   1994, Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom, Abacus, published 2010, page 6

3. An enclosure for livestock.

   The animal, which is now six years old, was born naturally from the mating of a female goat with a male sheep sharing the same kraal.

   2000 July 3, Jonathan Amos, “'Funny creature' toast of Botswana”, in BBC News Online

   Synonyms: corral, pen

present singular third person kraals · participle present kraaling · participle past kraaled · past kraaled · alternative crawl

1. transitiveTo enclose (livestock) within a kraal or stockade.

   […] he knew that one of these beasts was in the habit of harassing the goat-kids, which, for better security, he had kraaled against the wall of the house.

   1861, Charles John Andersson, Lake Ngami, chapter XXVIII, page 343

   Synonyms: corral