kraal
noun
- homestead
Wiktionary
Pronunciation: /kɹɑːl/ / /kɹɔːl/
noun
Etymology: From colonial Dutch kraal, from Portuguese curral. Doublet of corral.
- In Central and Southern Africa, a small rural community.
“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.”
“‘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.’”
- 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.”
- 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.”
verb
Etymology: From colonial Dutch kraal, from Portuguese curral. Doublet of corral.
- To 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.”