crocodile, noun

Origin:
Translation of Afrikaans groot krokodil.
colloquial
Often in the noun phrases the Big Crocodile, the Great Crocodile.
The Groot Krokodil, see Groot Krokodil sense a.
1989 Newsweek 13 Feb. 13He has long been the glowering face of white South African defiance. But even members of President P.W. Botha’s inner circle were caught off guard last week when the 73-year old ‘Great Crocodile’..took a step toward retirement.
1990 Sunday Times 18 Mar. 22Somewhere in the Wilderness, The Big Crocodile stirs...Ex-president P W Botha is planning..an attempt to have his voice heard in political affairs once again.
1992 Financial Mail 13 Mar. 25The Big Crocodile has been biding his time in his retirement lair at the Wilderness.
1994 R. Malan in Style May 35I last felt truly optimistic in the southern summer of 1989, in the interlude between the downfall of Botha the Crocodile and the Great Leap Forward of February, 1990.
1994 P. Lee in Style 58Go back to the blank columns in the newspapers..excised by a power-crazed Minister. Go back to the thrashing tail of the crocodile haphazardly scything tender advances off at the knees. Go back further to mass telephone tapping,..young men going off to fight phantoms in Angola.
The Groot Krokodil, see Groot Krokodil sense a.
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colloquial
crissy, adjectiveadj.crombec, nounn.
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