PE, noun

/piː ˈiː/
colloquial. A common name for Port Elizabeth (now Gqeberha), the largest city in the Eastern Cape; die Baai, see Baai; the Bay, see Bay sense a; Bayonia, see Bayonian; Friendly City; Liverpool of the Cape, see Liverpool; Windy City. Also attributive. See also Ibhayi.
a1892 G. McKiernan Narr. & Jrnl (1954) 30Uitenhage..is the farthest I penetrated into the interior from that side of the country. It is a pleasant little town and is the market garden for P.E.
1920 R.H. Lindsey-Renton Diary (1979) 12From Uitenhage we drove straight back to P.E.
1920 R.H. Lindsey-Renton Diary (1979) 20Today is the centenary of the landing of the first settlers in P.E. 100 years ago.
1950 H. Gibbs Twilight in S. Afr. 129Go again by train, the overnight train which leaves ‘P.E.’ shortly after seven o’clock in the evening.
1964 A. Fugard Notebks (1983) 113It is my understanding, my total knowledge of the shape, sizes and feel of these moments that makes P.E. what it is in my life: necessary.
1966 I. Vaughan These Were my Yesterdays 46I can’t sit straight up all night in a coat waiting! Think what I should look like tomorrow at P.E. station!
1971 S. Afr. Panorama Nov. 28People who have their homes there and earn their living there call it ‘P.E.’ And so do the inhabitants of its hinterland, the Eastern Cape Province. For South Africans further inland..it is ‘Port Elizabeth’, both an industrial centre and a holiday resort.
1982 S. Afr. Digest 18 June 9The palletised cartons are inspected in the interior before being railed to the coast, with the result that less rejected fruit is being handled in PE.
1986 S. Sepamla Third Generation 12My mind turned on Sis Vi. She was by that time somewhere in New Brighton, PE.
A common name for Port Elizabeth (now Gqeberha), the largest city in the Eastern Cape; die Baai, see Baai; the Bay, see Bay sense a; Bayonia, see Bayonian; Friendly City; Liverpool of the Cape, see Liverpool; Windy City. Also attributive.
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colloquial
PC, nounn.2peach-stone floor, noun phrasen. phr.
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