raad, noun

/rɑːt/, /rɑːd/
Forms:
Also with initial capital.
Origin:
DutchShow more Dutch, council; cf. heemraad, Kerkeraad, Kerkraad (see Kerk sense 2), Volksraad.
1. A board or council, particularly, in historical contexts, the council of the Rehoboth Baster people (see Rehoboth). See also Burgerraad sense 1.
1840 C.A. Kinloch in Echo 9 Nov. 5The Chief, with a look of incredulity, signified that the matter should be laid before the Council...[It was] not until the evening of the 18th that the Raad could make up their minds.
1847 J. Tindall Jrnl (1959) 101The case was brought before the Raad who..caused the Damara..to be beaten wrongfully.
1856 C.J. Andersson Lake Ngami 57He laid his complaint before the chief of the tribe; and a ‘raad’, or counsel, was held.
1877 Sel. Comm. Report on Mission to Damaraland 110Minutes of proceedings of meeting, at which were present Captain Jan Jonker Afrikaaner, the members of his Raad, and about 15 other natives.
c1936 S. & E. Afr. Yr Bk & Guide 176Until 1924..they (sc. the Basters) were ruled by a chief with the title of ‘Captain,’ supported by a Raad or Council partly hereditary and partly chosen every five years by the ‘Burghers’ of Rehoboth.
1973 J. Cope Alley Cat 126The Raad, the village council, also meets there.
1973 M.L. Mitchell in Hansard 8 Feb. 297The Minister of Labour..says that in no circumstances will he sit in the same ‘raad’ as a non-white.
1976 R. Ross Adam Kok’s Griquas 41From the beginnings of Griqua organisation, there had been a council, a raad, which aided and advised the Kaptyn, and acted as the legislative body for the Captaincy.
1987 B. Lau Namibia in Jonker Afrikaner’s Time 46The position of the chief and his ‘raad’, the leaders of the commando, was primarily based on their military skills in securing access to specific commodities like guns and horses or taxes and booty in cattle.
2. In historical contexts. [Shortened form of Afrikaans (earlier South African Dutch) Volksraad.] Volksraad sense 1.
1851 R. Gray Jrnls of Two Visitations II. 25These men have formed themselves into a Republic, and have their ‘Raad’ (Council).
1873 F. Boyle To Cape for Diamonds 153The gentlemen..obtained their grant under solemn seal and bond of the Transvaal Parliament, or raad.
1888 Cape Punch 6 JuneThose absurd old creatures the members of the Transvaal Raad.
1897 E. Prov. Herald 1 Mar.The Raad was prorogued this afternoon, and the President, in the course of his speech, indirectly referred to the constitutional crisis, saying the steps which were taken were for the well-being of the State.
1899 F.R.M. Cleaver in M.M. Cleaver Young S. Afr. (1913) 27The Raad will be asked to place the control of the police and detectives under the State Attorney.
1899 P.A. Molteno Sel. from Correspondence (1981) 102One of the demands is equal rights for the English language in the Raads and Courts.
1903 D. Blackburn Burgher Quixote 236I found myself at the door of the bar of the Transvaal Hotel, a place I rarely went into unless I wanted to see a member of the Raad or a Government official.
a1930 G. Baumann in Baumann & Bright Lost Republic (1940) 160The new laws..were terribly mutilated in their passage through the Volksraad, the main culprits being the attorneys, of whom there were quite a number elected as members of the Raad.
1940 F.B. Young City of Gold 209Even when the Raad was not sitting he felt it his duty to stay in Pretoria and stand by the President.
1974 K. Griffith Thank God We Kept Flag Flying p.xviiOn 7 September [1899] President Kruger said in the Raad, the Parliament in Pretoria, ‘They have asked for my trousers, and I have given them; then for my coat, I have given that also; now they want my life, and that I cannot give.’
1994 M. Roberts tr. of J.A. Wahlberg’s Trav. Jrnls 1838–56 38News that Pretoria has overthrown the Raad and chosen a new one.
3. combination.
raad huis /-heɪs/, /-hœɪs/ noun phrase. Obsolete, also with initial capitals, [Afrikaans, huis house], Raadsaal.
1888 Cape Punch 29 Feb. 117This S[tout] O[ld] F[armer]..made a Bee line — B stands for Boer — to the corner of the Raad Huis.
1888 Cape Punch 1 Aug. 39A wagon stood in the great square, opposite the Raad Huis.
1921 H.J. Mandelbrote tr. of O.F. Mentzel’s Descr. of Cape of G.H. I. 150The Town and Stellenbosch had each a burgher council and a ‘raadhuis;’ the latter also possessed a gaol.
A board or council, particularly, in historical contexts, the council of the Rehoboth Baster people (see Rehoboth). See also Burgerraad sense 1.
Derivatives:
Hence (nonce) Raadist  noun, a member of a raad.
1899 Grocott’s Daily Mail 12 July 2The thousands of British Subjects in the Republic, who have..furnished the handful of Raadists and the Executive with tens of thousands sterling per annum.
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R, nounn.2Raadsaal, nounn.
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