babalaas, noun and & adjective
- Forms:
- Show more Also babalaaz, babalas, babalaz, babalazi, babbalaas, babbalas, babbelaas, babbelas, babelaas, bubblejas.
- Origin:
- Afrikaans, IsiZuluShow more Afrikaans, adaptation of isiZulu ibhabhalazi.
slang
A. noun
a. A hangover; noncount, the unpleasant after-effects of drinking. Also attributive, and figurative. See also nadors.
1946 in E. Partridge Dict. of Underworld (1950) 15Babbeljas. A hangover: (after a debauch): South Africa. C.20. Letter of May 23, 1946; by 1940, low s. Afrikaans word; lit. ‘bubble-arse’?
1993 S. Dikeni in House & Leisure Nov. 12Just as the wine helped them praise ‘their’ town, the babalaas blues woke them up penniless and foul-tempered. Woe if you asked them the following day, ‘How’s life in Victoria West?’
b. comb.
babalaasdop /-ˌdɔp/ [Afrikaans, dop a drink, see dop noun sense 3 a.], a drink taken to help a hangover; ‘the hair of the dog’; also called regmaker.
1952 ‘Skappie’ in Drum Nov. 6Sometimes you are invited for a special meal or your first drink on a Monday morning is ‘on the house’ — often known as a ‘babalaas dop’.
1977 D. Muller Whitey 30The child gravely nodded his head and raised an index finger to those who called his name on their way to the kitchen to buy their morning wine: the old babalaasdop, the hair of the dog.
B. adjective Hung-over; suffering from the effects of a hangover.
1969 A. Fugard Boesman & Lena 14Look at you! Babalas!..from yesterday’s wine. Yesterday you were drunk. One or the other. Your whole life.
1991 L. Howard Informant, Port Elizabeth (now Gqeberha), Eastern CapeI had partaken too much of the local witblitz and woke up feeling baballas.
A hangover; noncount, the unpleasant after-effects of drinking. Also attributive, and figurative.
Hung-over; suffering from the effects of a hangover.
- Derivatives:
- Hence babalaased adjective, hung-over, suffering from a hangover.1979 N. Motana in Staffrider Vol.2 No.2, 47Lesiba: (Examines Fred) You look babalaazed pal. Fred: Of course! Our host gave us a lot of wine.1987 N. Mathiane in Frontline Oct.–Nov. 33If the bootleggers had not been there, the kids would have run out of stock, slept, woken up babbelaased, and gone home.
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