lathi

or la·thee

[ lah-tee ]

nounIndian English.
  1. a heavy pole or stick, especially one used as a club by police.

Origin of lathi

1
First recorded in 1840–50, lathi is from the Hindi word lāthī

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use lathi in a sentence

  • If you shoot one in such a locality the villagers have a disagreeable way of turning out en masse, armed with lathis.

    Jungle Folk | Douglas Dewar
  • The remainder stood firm, grasping their lathis in a manner that showed the fighting instinct to be strong, even in the Bengali.

    In Clive's Command | Herbert Strang
  • He saw in the distance a group of at least half-a-dozen men approaching, all carrying lathis except one, who had a matchlock.

    Barclay of the Guides | Herbert Strang
  • Towards evening, Bipin Babu was out for a walk attended by two or three retainers armed with lathis.

    Mashi and Other Stories | Rabindranath Tagore
  • There were some twenty men armed with matchlocks, and forty with swords and lathis.

    In Clive's Command | Herbert Strang

British Dictionary definitions for lathi

lathi

/ (ˈlɑːtɪ) /


noun
  1. a long heavy wooden stick used as a weapon in India, esp by the police

Origin of lathi

1
Hindi

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012