hot, noun, , interjection, , and & adjective

Forms:
Also ho, hott.
Origin:
Dutch
obs.
‘Right’. Cf. haar.
A. noun A cry of ‘hot’.
1786 G. Forster tr. of A. Sparrman’s Voy. to Cape of G.H. I. 127Each ox..will pay attention, and go to the right or to the left, merely upon hearing its own name pronounced with a Ho or a Ha added to it.
B. interjection ‘Turn right’ (a call to a draught-ox).
1812 A. Plumptre tr. of H. Lichtenstein’s Trav. in Sn Afr. I. 14The drivers manage the animals with merely calling to them; every ox has his particular name, and by pronouncing the word hot or haar, they turn to the right or left according to the signification of the word used.
1821 C.I. Latrobe Jrnl of Visit 54He continually calls to his cattle by their names, directing them to the right or left by the addition of the exclamations of hott and haar, occasionally enforcing obedience to his commands by a lash.
1919 J.Y. Gibson in S. Afr. Jrnl of Science July 5The descriptive hot and haar was employed in calling the names; thus Hot Bandom! or Haar Donker!
C. adjective Of or pertaining to the right-hand position of an ox in a team of draught-oxen; the right-hand or ‘off’ side.
1868 W.R. Thomson Poems, Essays & Sketches 172The sly old fellow gave his ‘hot’ and ‘haar voor’ oxen a smart cut with his whip, and as the cattle broke into a trot, looked round triumphantly at me from the voor-kist.
1870 R. Ridgill in A.M.L. Robinson Sel. Articles from Cape Monthly Mag. (1978) 22Literally, I did not know my right hand from my left when hot stood for one and haar for the other — sounds intelligible enough to the most stupid bullock that ever bore the yoke.
1913 C. Pettman Africanderisms 216Hot en haar,..These words are equivalent to the ‘off’ and ‘near’ of English drivers, and are employed: (1) To describe the position of the oxen in a span or team. (2) To direct the oxen which way to turn: hot, to the left; haar, to the right.
1919 J.Y. Gibson in S. Afr. Jrnl of Science July 5The words hot and haar described whether they were on the near or off side; thus hot or haar achter signified left or right wheeler.
‘Right’.
A cry of ‘hot’.
‘Turn right’ (a call to a draught-ox).
Of or pertaining to the right-hand position of an ox in a team of draught-oxen; the right-hand or ‘off’ side.
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