dompas, noun
/ˈdɔmpas/
- Forms:
- Also with initial capital.
- Origin:
- AfrikaansShow more Afrikaans, dom stupid + pas pass.
historical, colloquial
1. A contemptuous name for a pass (sense 3). Also attributive, and transferred sense. See also hamba dompas (hamba sense 5).
1961 M.A. Wall (title)The Dominee and the Dom-Pas or, The Padre and the Passes.
1993 H. Tyler in Weekly Mail 9 July 29One huge exhibit consists of a dozen or more old ‘reference’ books, the obligatory dompas Africans once had to carry at all times.
2. combination
dompas system, the system of controlling the rights of black people through the use of the dompas; cf. pass system (see pass sense 4).
1979 Daily Dispatch 8 May 1The Minister..said last night he intensely disliked the ‘dompas’ system for blacks and that his department felt the same.
1988 F. Khashane in Pace June 86Huge sums of money were lost in running the old dompas system, revoking it and processing the so-called ‘new ID for all’.
A contemptuous name for a pass (sense 3). Also attributive, and transferred sense.
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