bushveld, noun

Forms:
Also bush veldt.
Origin:
AfrikaansShow more Partial translation of Afrikaans bosveld, see bosveld.
1. Usually with initial capital, the Bushveld: the hot and dry region of the Northern Transvaal (now Limpopo) and Eastern Transvaal (now Mpumalanga), the low-lying part of which is also called the lowveld; the Bosveld, see bosveld sense 1 b. Also attributive.
1878 A. Aylward Tvl of Today 44It is unnecessary for me here to go at great length into the distinction of Highveld and Bushveld. It is sufficient for the purpose of this narrative to state that northward and eastward from Lydenberg, Bushveld and Lowveld are convertible terms.
1887 A.A. Anderson 25 Yrs in Waggon II. 61The principal portion of the Transvaal, north of Pretoria in the Zoutpansberg and Waterberg districts, is called the bush veldt, where most of the farmers living on the high veldt, between Potchefstroom and Pretoria, trek at the close of the autumn.
1899 D.S.F.A. Phillips S. Afr. Recollections 28The High Veld..was formerly only inhabited during the summer by nomadic Boers, who trekked with their sheep and cattle to the Bush Veld before the inclement winter season.
1907 J.P. Fitzpatrick Jock of Bushveld 15Perched on the edge of the Berg, we overlooked the wonder-world of the Bushveld, where the big game roamed in thousands and the ‘wildest tales were true’.
1936 Cambridge Hist. of Brit. Empire VIII. 14Bush Veld as a proper name indicates the region with this type of vegetation in the northern Transvaal, regardless of the fact that there are large areas of bush veld in Rhodesia, Bechuanaland and the Mandated Territory.
1975 E. Prov. Herald 21 May 16Mr Jooste’s research into the antecedents of mampoer took him to various areas in the Western and Northern Transvaal Bushveld where he visited some of the licensed distillers.
1987 C. Hope Hottentot Room 45Mona May was a brilliant young high-jumper from the Bushveld, who at sixteen had already cleared just under two metres and trained, it was said, back home by competing against a tame springbok.
2. Countryside composed largely of bush, often of a thorny or scrubby character; bosveld sense 2. See also bush noun1 sense 3.
1882 C. Du Val With Show through Sn Afr. I. 267It is necessary to ‘trek’ with the stock for some months to other pasturages in the ‘bush Veld’, where the herbage retains its sweetness and freshness.
1901 Contemp. Rev. (U.K.) Mar. 333An efficient guide, whose knowledge of the dense bushveld proved of great value.
1919 M.C. Bruce Golden Vessel 87The farm was most beautifully situated, with a horse-shoe of mountains behind, and lovely, rolling bush-veld in front.
1944 J. Mockford Here Are S. Africans 10We cannot entirely ignore the events any more than the hunter can ignore the changing bushveld when he is on the spoor of kudu or waterbuck, lion or elephant.
1968 Farmer’s Weekly 3 Jan. 93 (advt)Abundant sweet veld grazing and edible bushveld. Cattle in super condition all year round.
1975 J.P.H. Acocks Veld Types 28Tropical Bush and Savanna Types (Bushveld),..This veld type occupies the plains, at altitudes between 150 and 600 m above the sea..and replaces the valley bushveld in the deep valleys.
1989 Weekend Post 7 Oct. 3It was considered vital to conserve the Baviaanskloof because it was the meeting place of four major veld types — mountain fynbos, valley bushveld, Knysna forest and Cape grassveld.
3. combination.
bushveld prawn [probably a translation of Afrikaans bosveld-garnaal, see bosveld sense 3], mopani worm (see mopani sense 3).
1986 Sunday Star 8 June 5‘Bushveld prawns’ or, more accurately, mopani worms.
1991 Personality 6 May 24A peculiar little bushveld delicacy called, aptly, bosveld garnale (bushveld prawns). Or, brace yourselves, otherwise known as mopani worms.
Usually with initial capital, the Bushveld:the hot and dry region of the Northern Transvaal (now Limpopo) and Eastern Transvaal (now Mpumalanga), the low-lying part of which is also called the lowveld; the Bosveld, see bosveld sense 1 b. Also attributive.
Countryside composed largely of bush, often of a thorny or scrubby character; bosveld sense 2.
Derivatives:
Hence bushvelder  /ˈbʊʃfeldə/ noun, an inhabitant of the bushveld; bosvelder, see bosveld. Cf. Lowvelder (see lowveld).
1976 V. Rosenberg Sunflower 44Herman Bosman..was distinctly a transient, whose almost discourteous lack of interest in the socio-cutural activities of the Bushveld..widened the gulf between him and the adult Bushvelders.
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