apache1
/əˈpaʃ
/ /apaʃ/noun (plural apaches pronounced same)
A violent street ruffian, originally in Paris.Vintage apache depicted a tough guy throwing a woman around the stage....
- They whirl out of the clinch, as in an apache dance.
- Their battle is an apache dance, the black throwing the blond to the floor, the blond locking his legs around his opponent.
Origin
Early 20th century: French, from Apache, by association with the reputed ferocity of the American Indian people.
Apache2
/əˈpatʃi/noun (plural same or Apaches)
1A member of an American Indian people living chiefly in New Mexico and Arizona. Under the leadership of Geronimo, the Apache were the last American Indian people to be conquered by the European settlers.Historically recorded groups include Apaches, Comanches, Kickapoos, and Kiowas....
- The last holdouts were the Apaches of Arizona and New Mexico.
- Scholars at one time assumed that the arrival of the Apaches and Navajos played a role in the abandonment of those ancient centers of civilization.
2 [mass noun] Any of the Athabaskan languages of the Apache, which have about 14,000 speakers altogether, though some are virtually extinct.He even said two Apache elders had been invited to help to translate passages of the script into Apache....
- Tracking and awareness are the same word in Apache.
- Moving through the boys, Mike made quiet greetings with his relatives in Spanish, English, and Apache.
adjective
Relating to the Apache or their language.Bona fide featurettes include spots on the evolution of the story of the movie, the actual filming, casting the film, the score, and a bit about the Apache language....
- At one time an Army scout fluent in the Apache language, Horn has been credited with mediating the surrender of the great chief Geronimo to General Nelson A. Miles.
- Call me Geronimo, most famous of all Apache medicine men, but that is a name the Mexican soldiers gave to me; originally I was called Goyathlay, or, One Who Yawns.
Origin
From Mexican Spanish, probably from Zuni Apachu, literally 'enemy'.