horries, plural noun
- Origin:
- Afrikaans, English, South African EnglishShow more Afrikaans, from English horrors; it may be that the word existed as a South African English variant of ‘horrors’ before it was used in Afrikaans.
slang
1. ‘The horrors’, delirium tremens.
1959 A. Delius Last Division 75My brother, from drinking, once had the horries...It was like there’d been a donderse battle With Loch Ness Monsters and people and cattle, And spooks and goggas and in-betweens, And elephant cray-fish and skokiaan-queens.
1989 B. Ronge in Sunday Times 17 Sept. (Mag. Sect.) 6The ‘horries’ for those of you who still stubbornly deny yourself the idiomatic juiciness of Afrikaans, is a colloquial term for that state which English describes as ‘The DTs’ or delirium tremens.
2. transferred sense. A fear, phobia, horror, or strong aversion. Also attributive.
1971 Cape Times 3 July (Mag. Sect.) 4I watch the activity for a while, and then I get the horries that the rodents might eat me.
1989 Sunday Times 24 Sept. (Mag. Sect.) 8Last week I started dispensing my own personal ‘Horries’ awards, an inversion of the advertising industry’s Loeries which are meant to praise and reward excellence. The Horries do exactly the opposite.
‘The horrors’, delirium tremens.
A fear, phobia, horror, or strong aversion. Also attributive.
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