IDB, noun

Forms:
Also I.D.B.
Origin:
Initial letters of illicit diamond buying or illicit diamond buyer.
Note:
Cf. IGB.
1. An illicit diamond buyer: one who trades illegally in uncut diamonds.
1881 Diamond News in Diggers’ Ditties (1989) 16For half-a-dozen years or more I’ve been an IDB.
1886 G.A. Farini Through Kalahari Desert 25The I.D.B, as the ‘illicit diamond-buyer’ is called, flourishes still.
1893 C.A. Goade in Cape Illust. Mag. Vol.4 No.9, 314Here (sc. in prison) may be seen the tall gentlemanly form of the latest I.D.B. (Illicit Diamond Buyer), a man brought up in and bred to good Society.
1899 ‘S. Erasmus’ Prinsloo 16When the detectives came up they ordered the waggon to stop, and while two of them made the two ‘I.D.B.’s’ strip off every bit of their clothing, the others searched the waggon.
1916 S. Black in S. Gray Three Plays (1984) 228Peace: Now then, Von Kalabas, turn out your pockets. Van K: Look here, I’m not a bally I.D.B.
c1936 S. & E. Afr. Yr Bk & Guide 496The trapping system..can only be defended on the ground of the great difficulty in bringing a conviction against an I.D.B...by the ordinary methods of justice.
1946 S. Cloete Afr. Portraits 134Only by organisation could the thefts of the natives and the operations of the IDB — illicit diamond buyers — be controlled.
1955 T.V. Bulpin Storm over Tvl 31Both republics had been strongholds for illicit diamond buyers, and so many of these gentry had..settled in the little town of Christiana that if any of its inhabitants so much as visited Kimberley they were regarded by the authorities as I.D.B.s without further investigation.
1968 S. Tolansky Strategic Diamond 91Illicit diamond buyers (I.D.B.s)..are pursued fiercely by penal laws in many African states. Often the I.D.B. must offer lower prices than world prices.
2. Illicit diamond buying: illegal trading in uncut diamonds by unlicensed persons. Also attributive.
1882 C. Du Val With Show through Sn Afr. I. 95The principal white prisoners are those who have been convicted of I.D.B., which cabalistic letters translated mean ‘illicit diamond buying’, a fascinating species of occupation much in vogue on ‘the Fields’.
1886 W.M. Kerr Far Int. I. 15In spite of the vigilance of the detective department a great deal of illicit diamond buying is successfully carried on; hence the well-known ‘IDB’, which refers to the illegal trade.
1897 E. Prov. Herald 22 Jan.The white woman, Lane, charged with I.D.B. was remanded for Trial before the Special Court.
1924 L. Cohen Reminisc. of Jhb. 249Oliphantsfontein, which drips of history, is about six miles from Kimberley, and, being in the Orange Free State, was immune from the I.D.B. laws.
1937 H. Klein Stage Coach Dust 42Kimberley and the diamond fields coined this new phrase: I.D.B. — illicit diamond buying. The crime was considered to be one of the most serious that could be committed in South Africa.
1949 O. Walker Wanton City 68Made a fortune in I.D.B. and selling liquor to the natives.
1957 C. Birkby Airman Lost in Afr. 28A little yellow tobacco bag seemed to be the badge of the trade: uncut stones were always kept in one, and the I.D.B. fellows called the little bag a ‘parcel’.
1973 A. Hocking Diamonds 22The importance attached to diamonds in South Africa can be judged from the serious view taken of Illicit Diamond Buying, or IDB for short.
1989 D. Carte in Sunday Times 8 Oct. (Business Times) 13With huge sums at stake, the IDB racket, like the illicit drug trade, is sophisticated and violent.
3. combination
IDB Act, the Diamond Trade Act (No.48 of 1882) passed by the Cape Parliament to regulate trade in diamonds.
1913 C. Pettman Africanderisms 223I.D.B. Act, The common name of the Diamond Trade Act,..framed to suppress, if possible, the nefarious traffic above described.
1919 M.M. Steyn Diary 184At this period the I.D.B. Act (Illicit Diamond Buying) was not in force, and diamonds could be bought from anyone.
one who trades illegally in uncut diamonds.
illegal trading in uncut diamonds by unlicensed persons. Also attributive.
Derivatives:
Hence IDBism  noun  nonce, illicit diamond buying.
1895 R.H.S. Churchill Men, Mines & Animals 45A law of exceptional rigour punishes illicit diamond buying, known in the slang of South Africa as I.D.B.ism.
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rare or nonce
Idasa, nounn.IDC, nounn.
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