kris meaning: definition, etymology and quotations

kris

noun

Etymology Borrowed from Malay keris. Doublet of kalis. Recognized as part of English ca. 1580.

A traditional Indonesian, Malaysian, or Filipino sword or dagger having a tapering, usually serpentine blade.

Anne Talbot looked demurely ravishing, as was her intention, in a very low-cut evening frock of bottle-green, choker of Kelantan silver, earrings in the shape of krises.1958, Anthony Burgess, The Enemy in the Blanket (The Malayan Trilogy), published 1972, page 292:

verb

Etymology Borrowed from Malay keris. Doublet of kalis. Recognized as part of English ca. 1580.

To stab or cut with a kris; to kill with a kris.

This was reported to the Rajah (to some of whose wives the girl was related), and he immediately sent to the Englishman's house ordering him to give the woman up as she must be "krissed." In vain he begged and prayed, and offered to pay any fine the Rajah might impose, and finally refused to give her up unless he was forced to do so.1869, Alfred Russel Wallace, The Malay Archipelago, volume I, London: Macmillan and Co., page 271:
[...] when I was a boy, but Rajah Sul and Sultan Abdel krissed and speared all the poor people and burned the campongs.1901, George Manville Fenn, Running Amok: A Story of Adventure, page 100:

1 more example

One Malay seaman had resisted the rattan halter––he had been krissed to death on the spot and thrown overboard.2017, John D. Greenwood, Forbidden Hill, Monsoon Books, →ISBN: