pronk, verb
- Origin:
- Afrikaans, DutchShow more Afrikaans pronk to show off, make a display (from Dutch proncken); (of a springbok) to leap.
1. combination
1796 E. Helme tr. of F. Le Vaillant’s Trav. III. 29 (Pettman)The above name (sc. gazelle de parade) is one of those given to this antelope at the Cape of Good Hope, where the planters distinguish it by that of pronk-bock (the goat which adorns itself).
1913 C. Pettman Africanderisms 386Pronk bok,..Another name for the Spring-bok...The reference is to the peculiar bounds which this antelope is in the habit of making.
2. intransitive. Of an antelope (usually a springbok): to leap into the air with arched back and stiff legs.
1896 F.V. Kirby In Haunts of Wild Game 49He quickly settles down into a long ‘rocking-horse’ canter, or else goes ‘pronking’ away, as the Boers style it.
1992 C. Urquhart in Afr. Wildlife Vol.46 No.6, 264When disturbed this inquisitive and rather trusting antelope (sc. the oribi)..gives a sharp whistle or sneeze, leaps up and runs off rapidly for a short distance, sometimes ‘pronking’ quite high into the air.
Of an antelope (usually a springbok): to leap into the air with arched back and stiff legs.
- Derivatives:
- Hence (sense 2) pronking verbal noun.1925 S.C. Cronwright-Schreiner Migratory Springbucks 17I have never seen in any museum, not even in South Africa, a springbuck set up in the act of pronking, which is remarkable, because pronking is its most characteristic attitude.
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