greet, verb

Origin:
AfrikaansShow more Calque formed on Afrikaans groet to make oneself known, to say hello; to bid (someone) farewell.
1. intransitive. To make oneself known; to say hello.
1880 E.L. Price Jrnls (1956) 439They met your Father going up, & told him they were going to spend a day down here. They came & greeted and hoped, I think, that I wd. entertain them to dinner &c.
1985 B. Johnson-Barker in Wynboer June 72He watched as others came, and built small houses, and planted mielies. They would come to greet, but, because he had nothing to say, they too, found they had nothing to say, and so they didn’t come again.
1989 Bilingual in E. Prov. Herald 17 Jan. 6The phone has been answered only in Afrikaans, despite my greeting in English...On going into the charge office to report an incident, I always greet in English, but am answered in Afrikaans.
1990 Frontline Mar.Apr. 20On to De Rust, whose single street is a promenade. Pedestrians are strolling and greeting, drifting through the speckled streetlight, calling out to householders on stoeps.
2. transitive. To bid (someone) farewell.
a1989 Angus Informant, Pietermaritzburg, KwaZulu-NatalJim van Zyl on the SABC programme ‘Calling all Farmers’ (6 — 6.30 am Mondays — Fridays) often signs off with ‘And so we greet you until 6 o’clock on Monday morning.’
To make oneself known; to say hello.
To bid (someone) farewell.
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