dompass, noun

/ˈdɔmpɑːs/
Forms:
Also with initial capital.
Plurals:
dompasses.
Origin:
AfrikaansShow more Partial translation of Afrikaans dompas, see dompas.
historical, colloquial
dompas sense 1.
a1958 K.M.C. Motsisi in M. Mutloatse Casey & Co. (1978) 10No mother’s son or daughter of a bug is going to hitchhike to town in my new New Year’s suit when I go to work. At least not until my ‘dom pass’ has worn out my inside coat pocket.
1964 M. Benson Afr. Patriots 217The Government had announced that from 1956 African women must carry passes, the ‘verdomde’ — accursed — ‘dompass’ that more than any other law in South Africa tormented Africans.
1973 M.G. Buthelezi in E. Prov. Herald 15 Oct. 11There are instances where Zulu-speaking Africans get their ‘dom-passes’ stamped under the influx control regulations and are told: ‘Go to Gatsha, he must give you work.’
1976 Drum 15 May 49I rush back home to collect my ‘dom’ pass.
1977 J. Sikakane Window on Soweto 25One of the inmates will stumble around the room in search of a matchbox to light a candle and find the ‘dompasses’ to prove to the policemen that they are registered workers.
1980 Cape Times 10 July 3200 000 blacks had been arrested under the pass laws, despite Dr Piet Koornhof’s declaration of war on the ‘dompass’.
1982 Voice 1 Aug. 5People who have Section 10 qualification in their dompasses will be able to work wherever they want to. They will be able to rent or buy houses and can have their wives, children and aged parents live with them.
1985 Rand Daily Mail 16 Apr. 5PW Botha..equates the identity document issued to whites, coloureds and Indians with the ‘dompass’ which has always to be produced by blacks on demand.
1991 Drum Dec. (Then & Now) 20In 1955, women marched from Johannesburg to the Union Buildings in Pretoria to protest against having to carry dompasses.
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dompas, nounn.Dom Pedro, noun phrasen. phr.
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