Dictionary

Malacca cane en · NOUN

Etymology

From the former importance of Malacca as a port for the rattan trade and cane in its senses both as a reed-like plant and as a walking stick.

Meanings

1. (uncountable) Calamus scipionum, a species of thick rattan climbing palm native to Southeast Asia; its material; (inexact) closely similar species and their material.
   • Malacca cane grows in clumps in the jungle. 1965, Charles Shuttleworth, Malayan Safari, page 88:
   • The mallets or sticks [sc. used in polo] are generally of malacca cane. 1897, Outing, number 30, page 483:
2. (countable) A walking stick made of C. scipionum or similar material with a rich but mottled brown color.
   • Malacca canes have frequently to be colored in parts. 1874, Edward H. Knight, The Practical Dictionary of Mechanics, volume I, page 443:
   • The well-known ‘Malacca Canes’... do not occur about Malacca itself, but are imported from Siak, on the opposite coast of Sumatra. 1856, Berthold Carl Seemann, A Popular History of the Palms and Their Allies, page 131:
   • Adrian checked the orchid at his buttonhole, inspected the spats at his feet, gave the lavender gloves a twitch, smoothed down his waistcoat, tucked the ebony Malacca-cane under his arm, swallowed twice and pushed wide the changing-room door. 1991 September, Stephen Fry, chapter 1, in The Liar, London: Heinemann, →ISBN, section I, page 5:

Forms

Synonyms

malacca stick