giffie, noun

/ˈxəfi/
Origin:
AfrikaansShow more Afrikaans, literally ‘the deadly one’, probably from gif poison + -ie.
colloquial
Among children: a game in which the object is to shoot a stone or marble (see ghoen sense c) into three holes in a particular sequence, the first player having achieved this then attempting to hit an opponent’s stone or marble, thereby ‘killing’ him; a name given to the player who is allowed to ‘kill’ opponents.
1982 T. Baron in Frontline Nov. 45Giffie was one of them. All you needed was a flat stone for a ghoon and three holes in the ground. You threw your ghoon, first into the middle hole, then into the far hole and back again. Now you were giffie and you threw your ghoon..at your opponent’s ghoon.
1983 R. Dutton in Daily Dispatch 11 Mar. 16One of the games we boys played some 30 years ago in the Pretoria district was giffie...Three holes, into which the stones could fall, were dug about five yards apart and in a straight line. The object was to throw one’s stone into each of the holes in turn in the fewest number of throws. The first player to complete the circuit..was ‘Giffie’ and could then systematically ‘kill’ the other players.
1990 J. Berks in Sunday Times 11 Feb. 9Casual games of hasie, giffie, and slangetjie.
a game in which the object is to shoot a stone or marble (see ghoen sense c) into three holes in a particular sequence, the first player having achieved this then attempting to hit an opponent’s stone or marble, thereby ‘killing’ him; a name given to the player who is allowed to ‘kill’ opponents.
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colloquial
gifboom, nounn.gillie, nounn.
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