tono in pl.; grow fewer, okutoniwa.

e- (li/ma) space; room; time, inter- val; opportunity, chance, amagye ag'omu bbanga, air force, mu bbanga lya myaka mitono, in the course of a few years, E — waliyo obuduukaduuka obwesudde ama- banga. At: — there are numerous poor little shops scattered around, cf. banga.

imitate. (Note: tkis is one of the few verbs borrowed from English.)

o- (lu/n) handful; few, a few. cf. ekibatu.

o- also olubungubungu with the -a of rel. having no (or few) teeth, ow'olu- bungu, a person with no teeth, ow'olubungu- bungu, a person with only a few teeth (esp. at the side of the mouth).

o- (Iu/n) interval, space, olumagga- magga, as an adv. or with the -a of rel. scattered, widely spaced; few. Emiti gyali gya lumaggamagga. The trees were scattered/widely spaced. Enkuba etonnya olu- maggamagga. It rains sporadically.

o- with the -a of rel. few, small in number; scant, little; scattered. Abantu baabadde ba lusuluugi. There was only a scattering of people. There were only a few people.

e- with the -a of rel. hard to get; scarce; few, lit. stretch (leega) the forehead (bwenyi). Kati amazzi ewaffe ga

e- (n/n) a number (of units) less than ten; excess, some in addition (with the number not explicitly expressed). With the -a of rel. some odd, some in excess of, some few. ssiringi ttano ne ssente ez'en- susuuba, five shillings and some odd cents. Abaana ababaddeyo baabadde mu nsusuuba. The children who were there were less than ten. cf. suusuuba.

mangu; (in few words) mubigambo bitono.

hurl; throw down; overthrow (a government); throw back; knock over; let fall, drop; lose; outdistance, leave behind, okusuulawo ebigambo, to say a few words, abantu abaasooka okwagalana okusuula enjuba, people who at first liked each other very much/extremely, abo bonna abamusudde omukono, all those who have helped him/given him a hand. Yagaana okusuulawo akagambo konna. He refused to give the slightest hint. Sitaani ensi eno ajja kugisuula wala. Satan is going to destroy this world.

o- (tu/-) a few drops of beer, >a small amount of beer. cf. mwenge.

njabudde) v.tr. go through, go over, traverse; live through, pass through (a period of time); dismiss (a meeting), v.i. depart, leave. Bwe yatulengera n'ayabula. When he saw us he went away. Omwaka guno tagwabudde. He did not live through this year. Omugga tugwabudde mu ddakiika ntono. We passed over the river in a few minutes. okwabula inf.

o- with the -a of rel. few, few in in number; scarce, rare. Yayogedde ebi- gambo bya munyoto. He only spoke a few words. Ennyama efuuse ya munyoto. Meat has become scarce.

hint at, touch on, refer to in passing, okusiinya ku_nnoma, to make a few short taps on a drum. Ya- siinya ku ky'okugenda e Kampala. He mentioned the matter of going to Kampala.

v.i. grow thin; grow less/ fewer; diminish.

is also used as the first element of hundreds of verb-noun phrases in which it loses its primary meaning and serves merely to give verbal force to the following noun. A few illustrative examples are given here, but since a complete listing would be unwieldy, even if possible, the compounds are listed under their final or noun element. akalulu, vote; okukuba akalulu, to vote, ekikonde, fist; okukuba ebikonde, to box.

grow less.

o- with the -a of rel. scarce, few. Lumonde ow'omunaganwa, few sweet potatoes.

o- with the -a of rel. scarce; very few; insufficient. Abayindi ab'omu- swaba, a very small number of Indians.

o- with the -a of rel. insufficient; inadequate; unsatisfactory; few. Ensonga ezireetebwa za munguuba. The reasons given are not satisfactory. Enva zino za munguuba. This sauce is watery.

With the exception of a few interjections all words which were written with initial i- in the older orthographies are now written with initial yi-.

steal; seize by force; carry off. Ekijja omanyi, kinyaga bitono. (prov.) lit. That which comes (and) you know ((it is coming), it steals few things. Forewarned is forearmed. kukoowa nga banyaga, to give up or despair when one is on the point of success, lit. become tired when (others) are enjoying the spoils, cf. -nyage, omunyage, omunyago, omunyazi.

amount to (a number); be quite a few; be quite a lot/ considerable. Essaawa zaali ziwera nga bbiri n'ekitundu. The time was about eight thirty, abantu abawerako, quite a few people. Omuwendo gw'abaminsani gu- weramu. The number of missionaries is considerable.

little, next to nothing. Yazimba akayumba katono mpawekazira. He built a tiny little house. Ekiseera kyayita mpawekazira. A very short period time passed, abagoberezi mpawebazira, a very few followers (note the replacement of ka by ba).

lit. counted, few. mu ddakiika mbale, in a few minutes. Baatambulako ebigere bibale. They walked a few steps. Waayita mbale. A few days passed [the prefix m- on mbale implies ennaku, days). cf- ^bala.

little; thin, slender; few. Waayita ebbanga ttono, A short time passed, ebitono, brief remarks, cf. toniwa, akatono, nnabutono.