boom, noun

/ˈbʊəm/
Origin:
AfrikaansShow more Afrikaans, literally ‘tree’; perhaps from tree of knowledge; see quotations 1949 and 1952.
slang
1. dagga noun2 sense 1. Also attributive.
1946 H.C. Bosman in L. Abrahams Cask of Jerepigo (1972) 203A practice indulged in by every unregenerate South African criminal — white, native, coloured or Indian — is that of dagga (‘boom’) smoking.
1949 H.C. Bosman Cold Stone Jug (1969) 46The first time I heard convicts talk about dagga they referred to it as ‘boom.’ I wanted to know why. They said, well, you know, ‘boom’ is the Afrikaans word for a tree...Then they said it meant tree of knowledge.
1952 ‘Mr Drum’ in Drum Sept. 12Scientifically known as Indian hemp, dagga is called bhang in India,..Kif in North Africa,..Marihuana in Spanish America...Derived from Hottentot Dachab, it is known in the slang as ‘garnja’, ‘locoweed,’ ‘baccy,’ ‘giggleweed,’ ‘ganga,’ ‘love weed,’ ‘reefers,’ ‘zoll,’ ‘tokwaan,’ ‘bangi,’ ‘hoenderpoort,’ ‘’Nsangu,’ ‘tree of knowledge,’ ‘parcel,’ ‘’n katjie’, ‘stops,’ ‘boom,’ ‘tarrie,’ ‘weed’ and ‘No. 1.’
1971 Daily Dispatch 4 Sept. 6Most widely used names in South Africa are pot, grass, weed, tea or boom.
1974 in Eng. Usage in Sn Afr. Vol.5 No.1, 10Here the common boop terms invariably have further significance for the rokers i.e. those who smoke boom (dagga — occasionally weed or tree).
1979 Cape Times 1 Dec. 11Many of the youths, ignored by the older gangsters, begin to smoke ‘boom’ (dagga), to impress them.
1986 M. Picardie in S. Gray Market Plays 79Jesus, I’m mad this morning, no more dagga, no more boom, no smoking on duty.
1988 P. Wilhelm in Staffrider Vol.8 No.3, 77We bought from him dagga, the weed, boom: that which I had always associated with precipitation into blackness.
2. combinations
boom boy, dagga-rooker;
boomskuif /-skeɪf/ [Afrikaans, skuif see skyf], zol noun sense 1 a;
boomstop /-stɔp/ [Afrikaans, stop see stop], stop sense 1 a;
boom tea, an infusion of marijuana.
1974 Eng. Usage in Sn Afr. Vol.5 No.1, 11For the rokers — the boom-boys — hand rolling is essential unless the boom and snout are mixed in a pipe...The boom-skuif is held firmly between the fingers closer to the knuckle than normally and the smoke is then drawn in through cupped hands.
1980 E. Patel They Came at Dawn 25Sometimes the end of the boomskuif precipitously hangs onto the edge of my lips.
1977 D. Muller Whitey 16The magic of the jupe and the boomskuif was wearing thin. Body and soul were shrivelling.
1971 Cape Times 20 July 1She and a boy friend went to a party..They went into a barn..and drank ‘boom tea’ (tea made from dagga). Some of them were ‘feeling a bit funny’.
dagga noun2 sense 1. Also attributive.
Derivatives:
Hence boomed  /ˈbʊəmd/, boomed up  /ˈbʊəmd ˈʌp/, adjective, blue adjective sense 2; boomy  /ˈbʊəmi/ adjective, habitually intoxicated as a result of smoking marijuana.
1949 H.C. Bosman Cold Stone Jug (1969) 47‘Blue’ was the most usual way of talking about one being under the spell of dagga, but there were other expressions, like ‘geswael’, ‘boomed up’.
1964 M.E. McCoy Informant, Port Elizabeth (now Gqeberha), Eastern CapeA crazy drawing of a really boomy ou dragging a woman along.
1983 Informant, Cape Town, Western CapeWhole bloody pack of boomy ones that lot — boomed up the whole time.
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slang
Book of Life, noun phrasen. phr.boom, verb intransitivev.
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