macoute

A member of the Tonton Macoutes in Haiti; by extension, a thug or criminal.

Every Macoute received a card that afforded him many privileges, like free merchandise from any store he entered, entitlement to coerced sex, and fear and respect from people in general.

Fred also wanted to make sure I knew which macoutes were the worst ones.

An abstract measure of value, said to be used by various peoples of Africa.

The second example is found among the savages upon the African coast of Angola, where there is no real money known. The inhabitants there reckon by macoutes; and in some places this denomination is subdivided into decimals, called pieces. One macoute is equal to ten pieces. This is just a scale of equal parts for estimating the trucks they make.

The macoute, or unit of valuation, is neither actual nor visible, because it is entirely abstract and ideal, like all units. It is a method of measuring the value of one commodity by comparing it with another, through the instrumentality of an abstract unit which has neither length nor breadth.