Cape Doctor, noun phrase

Origin:
EnglishShow more Cape + English doctor; see quotation 1890.
The Cape Doctor: A nickname given in the Western Cape to the prevailing south-east wind which blows strongly especially during the summer months; the Doctor, see doctor sense 2. Cf. black south-easter.
1861 Lady Duff-Gordon Lett. from Cape (1925) 31It portends a ‘south-easter’, i.e. a hurricane, and Cape Town disappears in impenetrable clouds of dust. But this wind..is the Cape doctor, and keeps away cholera, fever of every sort, and all malignant or infectious diseases.
1882 C. Du Val With Show through Sn Afr. I. 50The ‘Cape Doctor’..does for Cape Town what its Town Council and Urban Authorities appear unable or unwilling to do — viz., drives out the contagion, low fever, etc., generated by the insufficient drainage and want of care..in..its sanitary requirements.
1890 A. Martin Home Life 15That rough but benevolent south-east wind, which, owing to its kindly property of sweeping away the germs of disease, is called ‘the Cape doctor’.
1913 H. Tucker Our Beautiful Peninsula 2Even the worst enemy of our comfort, the impetuous south-east wind, bears ‘healing on its wings,’ as its popular title, ‘the Cape Doctor,’ signifies.
1948 H.V. Morton In Search of S. Afr. 46The ‘Cape Doctor’ is the name of Cape Town’s private and personal monsoon, the South-Easter..because it always blows seaward and is said to carry away all the germs with it.
1966 Listener (U.K.) 18 Aug. 237The Cape south-easter was blowing — the wind they call the Cape doctor because it blows the rubbish from the streets.
1973 Cape Times 27 Jan. (Weekend Mag.) 10It is a little like the air pollution question in Cape Town...Just when the..media make the public aware of the extent of the problem..the old Cape Doctor comes along and the problem seems to have solved itself.
1976 W. Héfer in Optima Vol.26 No.2, 46It used to be said that this wind, known as the Cape doctor, helped the fruit farmer by blowing away various diseases.
1983 Sunday Times 14 Aug. 16The ‘miracle Cape Doctor’ — the south-easterly wind — has saved the rich, beautiful West Coast from oil pollution.
1987 Kirkby & Houwing in Weekend Argus 26 Sept. 1The eight sailing ships of the Australian Bicentennial First Fleet were pinned down in Table Bay Harbour by a raging south-easterly gale...The Cape Doctor, gusting to more than 50 knots, prevented the fleet from leaving Table Bay.
1993 A. Jardine in Weekend Argus 9 Jan. 18The Cape Doctor took centre stage..as the [golf] tournament entered..the ‘championship round’. An uncharitable south-easter played havoc with the pack yesterday and swept hats, golf balls and aspirations away.
The Cape Doctor:A nickname given in the Western Cape to the prevailing south-east wind which blows strongly especially during the summer months; the Doctor, see doctor sense 2.
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Cape Coloured, participial adjectival phrasepart. adj. phr. & noun phrasen. phr.Cape Dutch, noun phrasen. phr. & adjectival phraseadj. phr.
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