Also w(h)anghee. [Chinese huang bamboo sprouts too old for eating, a hard white-skinned bamboo (Giles).] A cane made of the stem of one or other species of Phyllostachys, Chinese and Japanese plants allied to and resembling bamboos. Also whangee-cane.
1813. W. Milburn, Oriental Comm., II. 545. Wanghees, sometimes called Japan canes, should be chosen pliable, tough, round and taper.
1836. Act 3 & 4 Will. IV., c. 56. Duties of Customs Inwards…. Canes, viz. … Whangees, Jumboo … and other Walking Canes or Sticks, the 1,000 … 0. 5. 0.
1891. A. Dobson, Hogarth, ii. 31. A short-trowsered tar of the Tom Bowling era is deliberately executing a nautical pas seul … with the aid of a whangee.
1906. Oxenham, Profit & Loss, vi. 86. He went in and bought a tough flexible whangee cane.
