opsit, verb intransitive

Forms:
Also opzit, opsitt.
Origin:
Afrikaans, South African DutchShow more Afrikaans, earlier South African Dutch opzit to sit up, to court.
historical
to sit up, see sit.
1882 [see vryer].
1887 H. Rider Haggard Jess 72How often do you ‘opsit’ (sit up at night) with Uncle Croft’s pretty girl, eh?
1899 H. Rider Haggard Swallow 6After we had ‘oppsited’ together several times according to our customs, and burnt many very long candles, we were married.
1912 F. Bancroft Veldt Dwellers 110She says when I am a grown up maiden about to opzit, she will let me into a secret — a very great secret.
1915 D. Fairbridge Torch Bearer 86When a young man likes a girl, and she doesn’t dislike him, they agree to opsitt — to see whether they would like to be engaged. They light a candle, stick a pin into it,..and sit up talking..until the flame burns down to the pin. If she likes him very much she sticks the pin in low down so that they may have a long evening together. If she thinks that she is likely to be bored, she puts it near the top. But it’s a very old-fashioned custom.
1924 G. Baumann in Baumann & Bright Lost Republic (1940) 115If a young man rode up to a house, mounted on a good horse, with a well-kept saddle and bridle, everyone knew the purpose of his visit. He had come to ‘opzit’ (literally — sit up).
1939 S. Cloete Watch for Dawn 377Why, if you wanted to court her, could you not opsit like a Burgher in the sit-kamer with a candle between you?
1944 J. Mockford Here Are S. Africans 96The horseman..would dress up to kill, stick a feather in his hat, offer the girl of his choice some sugar plums, and then, if his suit prospered, opsit (sit up) with her after supper for as long as a measured candle burned.
1945 M. Hone Sarah-Elizabeth 90She asked Mamma if it were true Rosina was Opsitting with a Rooinek Kerel.
1955 W. Robertson Blue Wagon 181‘In my young days I had to opsit for weeks’. He referred to the Boer custom of two young people sitting up by the light of a candle after the elders had gone to bed.
to sit up, see sit.
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18871955

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historical
opsit, nounn.opsitkers, nounn.
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