magageba, noun

Forms:
magegeba, magegebeShow more Also magegeba, magegebe, magegebes.
Origin:
Isicamtho, isiZuluShow more Isicamtho; perhaps related to isiZulu amakhekheba flat rigid objects, as honeycombs, sheets of ice (singular ikhekheba).
slang
In urban (especially township) parlance: maphepha sense 1 b.
1974 K.M.C. Motsisi in Drum Jan. 17Kid Fall..orders more spirits in the form of litre and boasts that we will never finish his boodle. He explains this by saying that he is in the magegebes.
1977 P.C. Venter Soweto 153A stranger to the tsotsi’s dangerous world could still save his throat if he has some knowledge of basic words and phrases:..Magageba — money.
1979 A.P. Brink Dry White Season 84You pick them up, listen to their sob stories, you’re their bank when they need some magageba.
[1982 D. Bikitsha in Rand Daily Mail 14 Oct. (Eve) 5Tsotsi taal: a fly patois passes away. Money terms were coined by the dozen..zak, miering, kuzat, tsang, chin, malazanas, mazuzu, magagebas, [etc.].]
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19741982