passenger, noun
- Origin:
- EnglishShow more Special sense of general English.
historical
Usually attributive, often in the phrase passenger Indian. An Indian immigrant of the merchant class who came to South Africa independently, and not as an indentured labourer. See also Arab.
1907 V. Lawrence in Bhana & Pachai Documentary Hist. of Indian S. Africans 23Your petitioner is a passenger from India, resident in the borough of Durban, and is anxious to obtain a letter of exemption declaring him exempt from the operation of the laws affecting Indians.
1994 F. Meer on Radio South Africa 21 Aug.As well as the indentured labourers there was a very small community of what they called passenger Indians, people who had come to South Africa to try their luck.
Visualise Quotations
Quotation summarySenses
Copyright © 2023 Dictionary Unit for South African English.