dom, adjective

Origin:
Afrikaans
colloquial
a. Stupid, foolish. So comparative form dommer, superlative form domste /ˈdɔmstə/ [Afrikaans], or dommest. See also domkop, simpel.
[a1878 J. Montgomery Reminisc. (1981) 88The people had to help me off the wagon. They were very kind and did all they could to relieve the pain, although they called me a domme Engelsman (a stupid Engelsman).]
1942 S. Cloete Hill of Doves 635Dom, Foolish.
1949 C. Bullock Rina 35I would gladly apologise if I had been too forward in any way...I consulted Piet.., but he rudely said that it was just that I was dom.
1968 F.G. Butler Cape Charade 66Andrew Geddes Bain Was very very dom To think he could placate his wife With sommer a botterblom.
1973 D.A.C. Maclennan in Bolt No.7, 20George is just as dom as the rest of us. We all bloody dom.
1980 J. Scott in Daily Dispatch 27 Feb. 13He accused Dr S— of being much dommer than Mr Colin E—, of being, in fact, the domste Leader of the Opposition. The Speaker asked Mr P— to stop repeating his allegation that the Leader of the Opposition was dom.
1980 J. Scott in Daily Dispatch 17 Oct. 10You’re a bit dom this afternoon, if you don’t mind my saying so.
1987 C. Gutuza in South 9 July 3When I asked him why he was beating my wife, he replied: ‘Keep quiet, you dom Kaffir.’
1989 E. Prov. Herald 17 Feb. 1One of the white policemen told them, ‘Don’t be dom, there is money for you. We must finish the UDF.’
1990 A. Maimane in Weekly Mail 8 Feb. 11His manner was that of a lecturer instructing dom — dim — students.
1994 Informant, Grahamstown (now Makhanda, Eastern Cape)He’s the dommest boy in our class.
b. In the phr. dom astrant /ˌdɔm aˈstrant/ [Afrikaans, astrant bold, impudent], deliberately uncooperative. So dom astrantheid /-heɪt/ [Afrikaans, n.-forming suffix -heid -hood], cussedness, perversity.
1978 Sunday Times 9 Apr. 16Did the arrogance and self-centred righteousness of the Fifties and Sixties last too long? Can the tide of international hostility aroused by a generation of dom-astrantheid still be stemmed?
1982 Sunday Times 25 Apr. 26As Willem de Klerk says: ‘It is reckless, dom astrant, incredulous, unpatriotic, even criminal, to pretend in the face of such irrefutable facts that South Africa can simply continue as in the past.’
Stupid, foolish. So comparative form dommer, superlative form domste /ˈdɔmstə/ [Afrikaans], or dommest.
In the phr. dom astrant /ˌdɔm aˈstrant/ [Afrikaans, astrant bold, impudent],deliberately uncooperative. So dom astrantheid /-heɪt/ [Afrikaans, n.-forming suffix -heid -hood], cussedness, perversity.
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18781994