macana

From Taíno macana.

macana (plural macanas)

1. A wooden sword-like weapon of various native cultures of Central America and South America.

• macahuitl

• manaca

• IPA^(key): /maˈt͡sa.na/
• Rhymes: -ana
• Syllabification: ma‧ca‧na

macana

1. feminine nominative/vocative singular of macany

• IPA^(key): /maˈkana/ [maˈka.na]
• Rhymes: -ana
• Syllabification: ma‧ca‧na

From Taíno macana.

macana f (plural macanas)

1. (Latin America) a type of long club, sometimes studded with sharp pieces of rock, used by the natives of America
   • 1997, Manuel Alvar Ezquerra, Vocabulario de indigenismos en las Crónias de Indias, CSIC, page 231:

     Una casa grande llena de lanzas, arcos, flechas, macanas y otras armas que usaban en sus guerras aquellos indios.

     A big house full of spears, bows, arrows, macanas and other weapons those indians used in their wars.

   1. (Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Puerto Rico, Bolivia) baton, nightstick
   2. (Mexico, Caribbean, Bolivia, Chile, Guatemala, vulgar) cock, dick
   • 1970, Carlos Monsiváis, Días de guardar, Ediciones Era, page 265:

     Se dejaron venir los granaderos con escudos y macanas.

     The grenadiers came with shields and batons.

2. (uncountable) the wood of the peach palm
   • 2003, Hernando Forero Caballero, Fundamentos sociológicos de la medicina primitiva, Academia Nacional de Medicina, page 53:

     Las figuras antropomorfas de madera representaban los espíritus tutelares de los niños o de los adultos y las de balso o macana eran empleadas para curaciones, una para cada enfermedad.

     The anthropomorphic wooden figures represented the tutelar spirits of children or adults and those made of balsa or peach palm were used in healings, one for each ailment.

3. (colloquial, Southern Cone, Bolivia, rare in Peru) an unpleasant situation
   • 2005, Lucio A. Mansilla, Los mirmidones, Dunken, page 65:

     Es una macana, este asunto me huele a revolución.

     It is bad situation, this affair reeks of revolution.

4. (colloquial, Rioplatense, Bolivia, Paraguay, rare in Peru) lie
   • 1904, Florencio Sánchez, La gringa‎^[1]:

     ¡Déjese de macanas, viejo!

     Cut the crap, dad!

   1. (colloquial, Bolivia, Chile, Paraguay, Uruguay) no matter, noise (a thing of little importance)
   2. (colloquial, Uruguay) nonsense
5. (Central America) hoe
   • 1979, Centro Agronomico Tropical de Investigacion y Enseñanza, Vocabulario de indigenismos en las Crónias de Indias, page 6:

     La siembra es realizada con arado de bueyes, con macana o chuzo y al voleo, en este último caso principalmente el sorgo.

     The sowing is done using a plough pulled by oxen, using macanas or chuzos and by casting, this last one is used especially for sorghum.

6. a baluster of a balcony’s balustrade

Uncertain.

macana f (plural macanas)

1. a type of thin cotton shawl worn by mestizo women in Bolivia and Ecuador

• “macana”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 10 December 2024

macana

1. wooden club^[1]