Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun An officer under the chief, among the Zulus and other South African tribes.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A South African tribal councillor or headman (under the king); someone in authority, a boss.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Zulu induna.

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Examples

  • He said "induna" referred to a person vested with traditional authority over a tribal area in the kingdom of KwaZulu/Natal and there were no indunas in the PWV.

    ANC Daily News Briefing 1994

  • Mchunu is an "induna", a supervisor appointed by his local chief in Zululand to be in charge of everyone in the hostel from his home area.

    ANC Daily News Briefing 1992

  • Lobengula left the encampment to regroup his "induna" warriors in 1881 as colonial forces advanced toward it.

    WSFA - Around Alabama 2010

  • Lobengula left the encampment to regroup his "induna" warriors in 1881 as colonial forces advanced toward it.

    WCNC - News - World 2010

  • Manias explained, The induna would like us to see the damaged field right now.

    The Elephant's Secret Sense Caitlin O'Connell 2007

  • After a long silence, the induna collected himself enough to look up at Manias and point to the bench.

    The Elephant's Secret Sense Caitlin O'Connell 2007

  • Zimbabwe, saying he did not think it was this country's right to act as a "big induna" issuing instructions.

    ANC Daily News Briefing 2007

  • The induna weakly shook his hand, clapped, and then rebundled his blanket.

    The Elephant's Secret Sense Caitlin O'Connell 2007

  • James Stevenson-Hamilton wrote that he heard a "vivid account" of one Swazi raid from "an old induna of the ba-Hlangane" named Kumane-ka-Mure, who appears to be the "Kumana" of Caissene's story.

    Where Women Make History: Gendered Tellings of Community and Change in Magude, Mozambique 2005

  • Manias translated and the induna then spoke to Manias quietly for a long time, gesticulating weakly as the women interjected here and there, trying to restrain themselves.

    The Elephant's Secret Sense Caitlin O'Connell 2007

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