pou, noun
/pəʊ/
- Forms:
-
α. Show more phow, pou, pouw, pow;
β. Show more paauw, paou, paouw, paow, pau, pauuw, pauw, peau.
- Origin:
- South African Dutch, Afrikaans, DutchShow more South African Dutch (later Afrikaans), transferred use of Dutch pauw peacock.
1. Any of several species of large bustard of the Otididae, especially: a. The kori, Ardeotis kori. b. Neotis ludwigii, ‘Ludwig’s bustard’. c. The white-bellied korhaan (see korhaan sense 1 b), Eupodotis cafra. d. Neotis denhami, ‘Stanley’s bustard’.
α.
1798 Lady A. Barnard Lett. to Henry Dundas (1973) 135We dined..and had..Johnnie’s pow, stewed and then baked..I never tasted any sort of game equal to it for delicacy and flavour.
1975 W. Steenkamp Land of Thirst King 135A forbidden fruit one still finds in fair numbers in the North-West is the pou, or great bustard. The pou is a handsome bird and very good eating. There also happens to be a long-standing ban on hunting it.
β.
1800 G. Yonge in S.D. Naudé Kaapse Plakkaatboek Deel V (1950) 209As pauws or wild peacocks are becoming extremely scarce, I do hereby order that till twelve months shall have expired.., none shall be killed or destroyed within one hundred miles of the Cape Town.
2. With defining word: (all obsolete)
β.
1907 J.P. Fitzpatrick Jock of Bushveld 336There were plenty of birds — guinea-fowl, pheasant, partridge, knoorhaan and bush pauw.
1834 T. Pringle Afr. Sketches 515The Wilde Paauw (wild peacock) is a large species of Otis, about the size of the Norfolk bustard, and is esteemed the richest flavoured of all the African feathered game.
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