dikkop, noun

/ˈdəkɔp/
Forms:
diccop, dickopShow more Also diccop, dickop, dick-kop, dyk kop, and with initial capital.
Origin:
South African Dutch, DutchShow more South African Dutch, from Dutch dik thick + kop head.
1.
a. Plural unchanged, dikkops, or dikkoppe /-kɔpə/. Either of two species of nocturnal or twilight birds of the Burhinidae: i. Burhinus capensis, now usually called spotted dikkop, but frequently also Cape dikkop; formerly called bush dikkop or veld dikkop; ii. B. vermiculatus, usually called water dikkop. Also attributive.
Note:
Species of this family are elsewhere generally known as ‘thick-knees’ or ‘stone curlews’.
1853 Edin. New Philos. Jrnl (U.K.) LV. 83The dickop..seem to emerge from their daylight concealment.
1856 R.E.E. Wilmot Diary (1984) 131The noisy dickop or little bustard (nearly identical to our stone curlew).
1860 A.W. Drayson Sporting Scenes 17One or two of the bustard tribe are also found here, and are called the diccop, coran, and pouw.
1867 E.L. Layard Birds of S. Afr. 288Dikkop of Colonists..feeds on seeds, insects, and small reptiles.
1873 ‘F.R.’ in A.M.L. Robinson Sel. Articles from Cape Monthly Mag. (1978) 105That birds and animals assume the colour of the soil in which they are found is well exemplified in the Karoo, where..the kieviet, the dik-kop, and the pauw..all differ in the same manner from those found near the sea-board.
1894 E. Glanville Fair Colonist 76The whistle of the dik-kop, plaintive as the cry of the plover.
1900 Grocott’s Penny Mail 24 Oct. 5At the close of the day the ‘bag’ was found to consist of 227 quail, two dikkops, 13 woodpigeons.
1908 Haagner & Ivy Sketches of S. Afr. Bird-Life 131The Bush Dikkop..inhabits the open thorn scrub,..seldom wandering far from the ‘bush’ localities.
1908 Haagner & Ivy Sketches of S. Afr. Bird-Life 132The Water Dikkop (Œ. vermiculatus) is slightly smaller than the Bush Dikkop.
1913 J.J. Doke Secret City 272The cry of a bird, a dikkop, was repeated from bush to bush until it died away down by the river.
1931 R.C. Bolster Land & Sea Birds 109The Veld Dikkop is popularly called the Bush Dikkop to distinguish him from a close relation, the Water Dikkop.
1937 M. Alston Wanderings 100The dikkops (thick heads) are also known in South Africa as thick knees...They are odd birds with their big round heads and yellow eyes, unusually large, and long legs.
1947 J. Stevenson-Hamilton Wild Life in S. Afr. 270The dikkops or stone curlews. Two species of these are described in South Africa, the Cape Dikkop (Burhinus capensis) and the Water Dikkop (Burhinus verniculator).
1948 J. Meiring in Contrast 48 10A dikkop cried its lonely penetrating call into the night.
1971 K.B. Newman Birdlife in Sn Afr. (1979) The plovers, wagtails and Water Dikkop, pick the food up from the mud or water along the shoreline.
1978 K. Sutton in E. Prov. Herald 14 Dec. 15A pair of Cape dikkop (Burhinus capensis)..have taken over their extensive back garden...Dikkop, though common in rural and semi rural areas, are not usually seen in built up suburbs.
1980 J.O. Oliver Beginner’s Guide to our Birds 68The Cape Dikkop..is found in the dry parts of the country among the scrub and bush...Its weird, whistling call can be heard on moonlight nights...The Water Dikkop..has a pale, whitish wing-bar and its legs are greenish, not bright yellow.
1985 G.L. Maclean Roberts’ Birds of Sn Afr. 263Spotted Dikkop (Cape Dikkop)...Burhinus capensis.
1986 J. Clark in Sunday Star 23 Nov. (Review) 12We also have, for the fifth summer in succession, a pair of dikkops who have nested on the same dusty patch. What a hideous name — thick-heads!
1990 Weekend Post 24 Mar. 3Among her menagerie are two spotted eagle owls, two dikkoppe,..and geese.
b. [See quotation 1903.] to play dikkop: to deceive, to feign injury.
1903 E. Glanville Diamond Seekers 116They’re playing dik-kop...The dikkop drops his wing and shams hurt to lead you off.
1913 C. Pettman Africanderisms 144Dikkop, To play, To try to deceive as the plovers do by feigning to have a broken wing, when one approaches their eggs or young.
2. noncount. Pathology. A disease of livestock.
a. In full dikkopsiekte, dikkopziekte [South African Dutch, ziekte (later Afrikaans siekte) sickness]: a form of horse-sickness affecting the heart and causing swelling of the head, neck and tongue; blue tongue sense b. Also attributive. Cf. dunkop.
1871 T. Baines Diary (1946) III. 762One of whose horses was standing apart, suffering from the ‘dikkop’ form of horse sickness.
1878 A. Aylward Tvl of Today 333The symptoms..had hitherto been noticed only in horse-sickness of the Dyk Kop, or swollen head and staggering type, as distinguished from the pleuritic type common in the Free State and Natal.
1882 S. Heckford Lady Trader in Tvl 88There are two species of disease called ‘horse-sickness’, one of them is also called ‘Dick-kop,’ or ‘thick-head’ sickness.
1897 J.P. Fitzpatrick Outspan 128I had left my horse dying of Dikkop sickness just this side of Kilo 26.
1937 J. Stevenson-Hamilton S. Afr. Eden 38On the evening of my arrival my roan pony Charlie developed indications of the dikkop form of horse-sickness.
1976 Mönnig & Veldman Handbk on Stock Diseases 72Dikkop shows the following lesions: Swelling of the hollows above the eyes, eyelids, etc., excessive fluid in the heart-sac and haemorrhages on the heart.
1980 P. Schirmer Concise Illust. S. Afr. Encycl. 12Dikkop (African horse sickness), This acute infectious disease of horses, mules, and, sometimes, donkeys, has been almost eliminated.
b. Ellipt. for geeldikkop.
c1913 W. Van Heusden Treatment of Horses, Cattle, Sheep & Poultry 144Sheep and goats — Dikkop (Geel Dik Kop). This disease causes tremendous swelling of the sheep’s ears, lips, eyelids, etc.
1937 Handbk for Farmers (Dept of Agric. & Forestry) 458The finely bred Merino sheep and Angora goat..are more susceptible to the disease...Outbreaks of dikkop may..remain undetected for several days.
1959 Cape Times 28 Jan. 2Dikkop, the dreaded sheep-killing disease, is raging at Murraysburg.
3. Plural dikkops. The marine fish Caffrogobius nudiceps of the Gobidae (goby family); dikbekkie sense a.
1913 C. Pettman Africanderisms 144Dikkopje, A species of Gobius.
1913 D. Fairbridge Piet of Italy 6The black and white zebra-fish..frisk in the company of dikkops, striped bamboo-fish and baby maasbankers.
1949 J.L.B. Smith Sea Fishes of Sn Afr. 336Gobius nudiceps Cuvier..Dikkop. Bully. Goby...The most abundant Goby of our South coast, in all rock pools, not timid.
1966 J.L.B. Smith Fishes of Tsitsikama Coastal Nat. Park 104Dikkop,..Found in almost every rocky tide pool it is a bold and greedy fish, taking any small bait.
1973 Beeton & Dorner in Eng. Usage in Sn Afr. Vol.4 No.1, 33Dikkop, alt: bully, goby; small marine fish, the most common goby of the s coast; found fr the w coast to Natal in rock pools & estuaries.
‖4. colloquial. ‘Blockhead’, ‘idiot’. See also dik sense 2.
1913 C. Pettman Africanderisms 144Dikkop, A term of reproach meaning numskull, blockhead.
1916 S. Black in S. Gray Three Plays (1984) 225Peace: Look here, don’t you come it with me. Van K: Well, what do you think of this old dikkop!
1970 Beeton & Dorner in Eng. Usage in Sn Afr. Vol.1 No.1, 36Dikkop,..Afk equiv of ‘blockhead, numbskull’.
Burhinus capensis, now usually called spotted dikkop, but frequently also Cape dikkop; formerly called bush dikkop or veld dikkop;
B. vermiculatus, usually called water dikkop. Also attributive.
to play dikkop:to deceive, to feign injury.
In full dikkopsiekte, dikkopziekte [South African Dutch, ziekte (later Afrikaans siekte) sickness]:a form of horse-sickness affecting the heart and causing swelling of the head, neck and tongue; blue tongue sense b. Also attributive.
Ellipt. for geeldikkop.
Plural dikkops.The marine fish Caffrogobius nudiceps of the Gobidae (goby family); dikbekkie sense a.
‘Blockhead’, ‘idiot’.
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18531990

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