agterryer, noun

/ˈaxtə(r)ˌreɪə(r)/
Forms:
achterrijder, achterryderShow more Also achterrijder, achterryder, agter rijer, agter-ruiter, agter-ruyter, agter-ryder, agterryer.
Origin:
Afrikaans, South African DutchShow more Afrikaans, formerly South African Dutch achter-rijder (achter-ruiter, achter-ryder, achter-ryer), achter rear + rijder rider.
1. In historical contexts. A mounted groom or other attendant; a military servant, or batman; after-rider. Also attributive.
1824 W.J. Burchell Trav. II. 132Two boors on horseback, attended by two Hottentot achter-ryders, or according to colonial pronunciation achter-ryers (after riders) passing by, halted...These achter-ryders..correspond..to many of our English grooms.
1833 Graham’s Town Jrnl 7 Feb. 3The commando then proceeded in the dark, each warrior followed sometimes at a distance of 50 to 100 paces by his ‘squire’, or agter-ryder, who carried his musket for him in such a manner as to be entirely unprepared for any sudden attack.
1835 C.L. Stretch Journal. Mar.W. Simmons was obliged to take their guns from them and arm their ‘agter ruyters’ 8 in number who behaved well and succeeded in taking 85 head of cattle from about 1000 caffres.
1835 T.H. Bowker Journal. 5 Apr.He was wounded through the hand by an assagay also an agter rider had his thigh broken by a ball from the Kafirs.
1839 W.C. Harris Wild Sports 333In the course of the forenoon, we were met by a farmer from Beaufort, on the Karroo, with a Hottentot achter ryder, or footman.
1846 J.C. Brown tr. of T. Arbousset’s Narr. of Explor. Tour to N.-E. of Col. 212He arrives amongst them on horseback, a gun on his shoulder, and followed by a young agter ruiter, their kind of groom.
1868 W.R. Thomson Poems, Essays & Sketches 152His only companion was a young Hottentot achterryder, who, with all the liveliness of his race, had been entertaining his master.
1874 in A.M.L. Robinson Sel. Articles from Cape Monthly Mag. (1978) 224A solitary journey on horseback with an attendant achterryder on a sumpter horse and an occasional ‘off-saddle’, to give the animals a ‘roll in the dust’ to refresh them withal.
1882 C.L. Norris-Newman With Boers in Tvl 183My ‘achter’ rider..divested the three horses of their saddles and accoutrements.
1887 A. Stockenstrom in F.G. Butler When Boys Were Men (1969) 59A bushboy, one of the Agterryders of the escort, came running down the mountain, shouting out in the distance that the whole party was murdered.
1900 M. Marquard Lett. from Boer Parsonage (1967) 56His pathetic stories of the faithful old ‘achterrijder’ Valentyn cooking his keteltje, — keeping his horses -..all these were to me most interesting.
1911 D.B. Hook ’Tis but Yesterday 100Piet..was armed with his bow and arrows, and mounted on a pony as ‘achter-ruiter’ to Jan.
1937 F.B. Young They Seek a Country 523Sixty-six armed men were there, with thirty Hottentot achter-ryders leading the spare horses, and the ten Zulus driving home the stolen cattle.
1937 H. Klein Stage Coach Dust 125The sheriff then ordered three of his ‘agter rijers’ (native servants) to drag the body into a slight declivity alongside the road.
1946 V. Pohl Adventures of Boer Family 155I pretended to be an agterryer belonging to a British patrol and said that the officer had told me to ask for these things and that he would pay for them in the morning.
1955 L.G. Green Karoo 66Fraser visited them on horseback, accompanied by an elder and an agterryer, a groom leading a pack-horse which carried bedding, clothes, food and Communion plate.
1968 F.G. Butler Cape Charade 13If only Klaas were free, he could be your guide, and your agter-ryder!
1970 P.J. Venter in Std Encycl. of Sn Afr. I. 253Agterryers, Coloured batmen...‘Agterryer’ is..a military term, and it is the South African word for the time-honoured custom of having military servants or batmen.
1989 Reader’s Digest Illust. Hist. of S. Afr. 246The Boer practice of going to war accompanied by a coloured or African agterryer (batman) who tended the horses, collected firewood, cooked and generally saw to the chores that needed doing about the camp.
2. figurative. One filling a subordinate position and thereby reinforcing the position of those in authority. Also attributive.
1962 A. Fugard Notebks (1983) 50Another important person in terms of getting things organised was the ‘agter-ryer’ — the tough bully singled out by the warder to help him keep the other prisoners in order. Every section had its agter-ryer.
1972 R. De Villiers in Argus 25 Mar. 9Who keeps on emphasising the necessity of maintaining the separate identity of the Afrikaner people? Who is responsible for the top-dog attitude with its concomitant ‘agter-ryer’ tag?
1976 Sunday Times 10 Oct. 6In a big prison in the Transvaal all the ‘agterryers’ (boss-boys) in a big span..were Big Five.
1977 E. Prov. Herald 18 Nov. 2The coloureds and the Indians, nearly three million in all, will have to be content with a kind of agterryers’ role in so-called white South Africa.
A mounted groom or other attendant; a military servant, or batman; after-rider. Also attributive.
One filling a subordinate position and thereby reinforcing the position of those in authority. Also attributive.
Entry Navigation

Visualise Quotations

Quotation summary

Senses

18241989

Browse Related Words

By Category

Transport
Occupations

By Origin

Afrikaans

By Usage

historical
figurative or allusive
agteros sjambok, noun phrasen. phr.agter sjambok, noun phrasen. phr.
Copyright © 2023 Dictionary Unit for South African English.