moer, noun2

Origin:
AfrikaansShow more Afrikaans, ‘mother’, ‘dam (of animals)’ or ‘matrix’, ‘womb’.
slang, not in polite use
1. Usually in the noun phrases jou moer/jəʊ-/ [Afrikaans, jou your] or your moer, and se moer [Afrikaans, se possessive pronoun (his, her, their)]. An obscene and abusive mode of address, equivalent to ‘stuff (you)’; an expletive expressing rage, disgust, or contradiction.
1946 C.A. Smith in E. Partridge Dict. of Underworld (1950) 444Moer, A word used only in the worst of company.
1950 E. Partridge Dict. of Underworld 444Moer! or your moer! Go to hell!: South Africa: late C. 19–20.
1963 K. Mackenzie Dragon to Kill 127‘Jou moer!’ Jan hissed from the other side of the table. ‘Now you see what you have done. She is sick, man!’
1973 A. Fugard Boesman & Lena (1980) 240(Staring up at a bird...) Jou Moer!...(She..shakes her fist at it.) Jou Moer!!
1973 A. Fugard Boesman & Lena (1980) 296Jou moer! ultimate obscenity; contraction of Jou ma se moer, Your mother’s womb.
1980 A. Dangor in M. Mutloatse Forced Landing 160Cosseted like a virgin, offered as noble sacrifice...Destiny! Destiny! Destiny se moer!
1987 Frontline Mar. 13The ordinary guy on the street can just mutter under his breath: ‘Boer, jou moer’. We are meant to resolve these things.
2. In phrases: moer and gone adverbial phrase [intensification of doer and gone (see doer)], ‘to hell and gone’; the moer in adjectival phrase, the hell in (see hell sense 2); moer of a adjectival and adverbial phrases [translation of Afrikaans moer se], used before nouns and adjectives: ‘hell of a (blow, etc.)’, ‘bloody (difficult, etc.)’; moer se adjectival phrase [Afrikaans], see preceding; so also the contractions moersa adverb and adjective, and moere, moerse adverb.
1974 B. Simon Joburg, Sis! 132I said I’ll fucken kick you down moer and gone that’s what I’ll do.
1978 S. Roberts in New Classic No.5, 20You get the moer in with them though too specially when they run up and put five cents in the metre just as you’re getting your pen ready to write out the ticket.
1982 Grocott’s Mail 3 Aug. 10Well I’ve got two kids and I’d dig to give them a moerse good grounding like my mother gave me.
1985 P. Slabolepszy Sat. Night at Palace 13Jeez! I mean, take last Saturday, Katz had that moersa argument with the ref.
1985 P. Slabolepszy Sat. Night at Palace 30Check the moon. Looks like one moersa mine dump. Moersa cheese mine dump.
1985 P. Slabolepszy Sat. Night at Palace 54There’s this poster ‘Visit Margate’. On it there’s this man standing in the sea catching this moere big fish.
1985 P. Slabolepszy Sat. Night at Palace 78Moere/moersa, massive, very big (Afrikaans slang).
1987 S. Roberts Jacks in Corners 73It makes me the moer in to have to discuss it in students’ writing, at my age, with a straight face.
1987 Informant, Grahamstown (now Makhanda, Eastern Cape)You could see she was moer of a angry.
1988 L. Bryer (tr. of W. Odendaal) in Bunn & Taylor From S. Afr. 112The way Kita tells it, old Baby takes the turn on the hill at a moer of a speed... [Source Note: A moer of a speed: a hell of a speed.]
1988 G. Latter in Staffrider Vol.7 No.3, 113Kourie whispered, ‘Let them try, I’m the moer-in anyway’.
1988 Informant, Grahamstown (now Makhanda, Eastern Cape)It must’ve been a moer se spring.
1992 M. Esau Informant, Grahamstown (now Makhanda, Eastern Cape)This guy is moerse wealthy.
1992 J. Goetsch Informant, Grahamstown (now Makhanda, Eastern Cape)Oracle is moer of a expensive.
1993 B. Krige in Sunday Times 4 Apr. 17The notice board behind the counter advertises a forth-coming event, a moersa-party.
Usually in the noun phrases jou moer/jəʊ-/ [Afrikaans, jou your] or your moer, and se moer [Afrikaans, se possessive pronoun (his, her, their)].An obscene and abusive mode of address, equivalent to ‘stuff (you)’; an expletive expressing rage, disgust, or contradiction.
In phrases: moer and gone adverbial phrase [intensification of doer and gone (see doer)], ‘to hell and gone’; the moer in adjectival phrase, the hell in (see hell sense 2); moer of a adjectival and adverbial phrases [translation of Afrikaans moer se], used before nouns and adjectives: ‘hell of a (blow, etc.)’, ‘bloody (difficult, etc.)’; moer se adjectival phrase [Afrikaans], see preceding; so also the contractions moersa adverb and adjective, and moere, moerse adverb.
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