sasawood

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A form of sassywood — A form of trial by ordeal in Liberia, typically involving a suspect drinking a poisonous concoction made from the bark of the ordeal tree Erythrophleum guineense, Erythrophleum ivorense, or Erythrophleum suaveolens (called sassy bark); by extension, other forms of trial by ordeal such as applying a heated machete to the suspect's legs, or dipping the suspect's hand into hot oil.

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Meanings

nounsasawood (uncountable)
  1. obsoleterareuncountableObsolete form of sassywood.
    1 more example

    A man named Prince came into the parlor; he spoke broken English, and told Mrs. Payne that his people were going to give him ‘sasa-wood.’ A man had died among his people, and the men bearing the body to the grave ran against his house: they believe that the body influences them to go against the house of him who bewitched or killed the dead man. He (Prince) had gone to another town, and was trying sasa-wood in small quantities; if it does not injure him, he will go to his own town, and take it before his people.

    1859, George D[avid] Cummins, “Life at Cavalla”, in Life of Mrs. Virginia Hale Hoffman, Late of the Protestant Episcopal Mission to Western Africa, Philadelphia, Pa.: Lindsay & Blakiston, →OCLC, pages 87–88
Cite this entry
APA

sasawood. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sasawood

MLA

“sasawood.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sasawood. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “sasawood,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sasawood.

Source: sasawood on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.