Broederbond, noun
- Forms:
- Also Broderbond, Broederbund.
- Origin:
- AfrikaansShow more Afrikaans, short for Afrikaner Broederbond, Afrikaner (see Afrikaner) + broeder brother + bond league, fellowship.
1. An exclusive (originally secret) organization promoting the economic and political interests of Afrikaners; AB; Bond noun2 sense 2 a. Also attributive. See also broeder sense 3.
- Note:
- The Broederbond was established in 1918, with membership open (by invitation only) to male Afrikaners of a particular political persuasion.
1944 J.C. Smuts in H. Gibbs Twilight in S. Afr. (1950) 202It is clear that the Broederbond is a dangerous, cunning, political, Fascist organization of which no public servant, if he is to retain his loyalty to the State and Administration, can be allowed to be a member.
1990 T. Mathews et al. in Newsweek 12 Feb. 10The secret Broederbond (Brotherhood) of elite white Afrikaners is pushing forcefully for reform, in the name of the survival of white society.
2. transferred sense. Any exclusive grouping, especially one operating secretively and having a lot of power within a particular field or organization.
1980 Daily Dispatch 6 May 6Mr Rupert Lorimer of Orange Grove..accused Mr B.H. W— of Carletonville of being a ‘member of the mealie mafia’..‘I say he belongs to the mealie Broederbond.’
1990 Sunday Times 24 June 2The party (sc. the South African Communist Party) does not see itself as a ‘Broederbond’ within the ANC.
An exclusive (originally secret) organization promoting the economic and political interests of Afrikaners; AB; Bond noun2 sense 2 a. Also attributive.
Any exclusive grouping, especially one operating secretively and having a lot of power within a particular field or organization.
- Derivatives:
- Hence Broederbondism noun, the attitudes and actions of the Broederbond.1960 J.H. Coetzee in H. Spottiswoode S. Afr.: Rd Ahead 68The bogy of Afrikaner-nationalism, Afrikaner-calvinism and Afrikaner broederbondism, always kept alive by the press and hammered on by political machinations.
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