diver, noun

Forms:
Also dyver.
obs.
1. [The first quotation reflects a special sense of general English diver one who dives; subsequent quotations are often translations of South African Dutch duiker.] duiker sense 2 a.
1607 W. Keeling in R. Raven-Hart Before Van Riebeeck (1967) 35This forenoone wee sawe many seals velvett sleeves and dyvers alsoe sea fowles and trombos.
1878 T.J. Lucas Camp Life & Sport 29The harbour presents altogether a bustling scene, with its numerous craft, swarms of divers and ducks of various kinds streaming restlessly to and fro.
1906 Natal Mercury Pictorial 703 (Pettman)I notice a number of those ugly, useless, and predaceous birds known as divers in the Bay.
1913 C. Pettman Africanderisms 146Divers, The cormorant is so called in Natal.
[1946 L.G. Green So Few Are Free 70Cormorants inhabit the outer rocks of Dassen Island in vast numbers. This voracious fish-eater is known in South Africa as the duiker (diver).]
2. [translation of South African Dutch duiker.] duiker sense 1 a.
1810 G. Barrington Acct of Voy. 157Another animal is called the Düiker or Diver, from the manner of its plunging and concealing itself among the bushes.
1812 A. Plumptre tr. of H. Lichtenstein’s Trav. in Sn Afr. (1928) I.The duiker or diver..will every now and then raise its head up to look at passing objects, and then immediately plunge down again.
1834 T. Pringle Afr. Sketches 510The Duiker, or Diver,..is so named on account of its peculiar mode of plunging among the brushwood when startled or pursued.
1847 [see duiker sense 1 a].
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16071946

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district surgeon, noun phrasen. phr.diving goat, noun phrasen. phr.
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