Groot Krokodil, noun phrase

Forms:
Also with small initials.
Origin:
AfrikaansShow more Afrikaans, groot great + krokodil crocodile (see quotation 1990), a parody on traditional African honorific titles given to leaders of stature.
colloquial
a. The Groot Krokodil: A nickname given to P.W. Botha, dating from the term of his state presidency; crocodile. b. transferred sense (plural krokodille), used of anyone perceived to be acting ferociously or relentlessly.
1989 S. Johnson in Weekly Mail 3 Mar. 23For a man who gives a platform to people who’d have the Groot Krokodil grabbing for his hotline to Auckland Park..he’s no revolutionary.
1989 E. Prov. Herald 4 Mar. 5Sometimes there are so many [red-billed queleas] on a tree that they fall off and are eaten by waiting crocodiles. This had..a political connotation with the ‘groot krokodil’ — Mr PW Botha — waiting for his opponents to fall into his mouth like ‘parliamentary gravy’.
1990 Sunday Times 11 Mar. 1Suggestions that the Groot Krokodil — the nickname given Mr Botha because of his relentless pursuit of opponents — might make a comeback sent a shudder through National Party ranks.
1991 Weekend Post 9 Mar. 3The ‘groot krokodil’ of Wilderness..is alive, well and baring his teeth on the banks of the Touw River lagoon.
1992 Hogarth in Sunday Times 26 Apr. 24President de Klerk’s proposal for an elected council of ‘Groot Krokodille’ to replace the state president is blatantly rigged.
1993 R. Hartley in Business Day 11 June 2He said Sunday Times editor Ken Owen had subsequently accused him of imprisoning the 14 detainees in ‘the black hole of Calcutta’ and had described him as the ‘groot krokodil’ of Quibaxe. This had created the incorrect impression that he was ‘some kind of authoritarian bully boy’.
1994 R. Barnes on Radio South Africa 1 Jan. (Woman’s World)The groot krokodil being ousted from power, and F. W. de Klerk coming in.
The Groot Krokodil: A nickname given to P.W. Botha, dating from the term of his state presidency; crocodile.
used of anyone perceived to be acting ferociously or relentlessly.
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