rooikat, noun

/ˈrɔɪkat/
Forms:
roodekat, roode kattShow more Also roodekat, roode katt, rooyekat.
Origin:
Afrikaans, South African Dutch, DutchShow more Afrikaans, earlier South African Dutch roodekat, from Dutch roode red + kat cat.
1. The caracal, Felis caracal of the Felidae, a fierce, lynx-like predator, especially among sheep and poultry; red cat. Also attributive.
1786 G. Forster tr. of A. Sparrman’s Voy. to Cape of G.H. I. 150There is another kind of cat, as it is called, the roode kat, the skin of which is in Africa universally supposed to possess a great medicinal power in the cure of lumbagos.
1796 C.R. Hopson tr. of C.P. Thunberg’s Trav. II. 182Roode Katt is the name here given to a kind of red lynx, with long locks of hair at the extremities of its ears, and the tip of its tail black. Pennant calls it a Persian cat, and Buffon Caracal.
1835 A. Smith Diary (1940) II. 213I am like an animal of the game kind with strong limbs like wood, legs like those of jackals, like those of (the) rooyecat.
[1890 A. Martin Home Life 217Jackals, wild cats, lynxes — or, as the Dutch call them, rooikats — and numerous other four-legged free-booters pounce at night on those hens foolish enough to make their nests far from the comparative safety of the house.]
1905 W.L. Sclater in Flint & Gilchrist Science in S. Afr. 126The Caracal or Rooikat (Felis caracal) found throughout Southern Asia as well as Africa, approaches in some respect the Lynxes of the northern Hemisphere as regards its pencilled ears and the absence of the anterior upper premolar, but it has a long tail and no ruff round its neck.
1918 S.H. Skaife Animal Life in S. Afr. 269The caracal, or rooi kat, is widely distributed throughout South Africa, but is not common...Although it is often called a lynx, it is not a true lynx, these only being found in the northern hemisphere.
1942 S. Cloete Hill of Doves 622The moths have got into my rooikat tails.
1958 A. Jackson Trader on Veld 64Of vermin, a large variety existed, especially the..‘rooikat’ (lynx).
1964 A. Rothmann Elephant Shrew 43One day two tiny live rooikats were brought to the Museum. The rooikat’s real name is caracal and it is also called lynx..but nobody in South Africa seems to call it anything but rooikat.
1976 S. Cloete Canary Pie 95Augusta was slim, as clever as a rooikat.
1988 P. Kingwill Message of Black Eagle 14Daniel reported seeing the spoor of a big rooikat in Dam Camp on Monday and said he was going to set traps.
2. transferred sense. With initial capital. An armoured combat-vehicle used by the South African (National) Defence Force.
1988 D.W. Potgieter in Sunday Times 23 Oct. 21The Rooikat, a new generation armoured combat vehicle..is a formidable landmine-proof opponent, designed to take on nothing less than tanks.
1989 Cape Times 30 JuneThe new Rooikat, said to be one of the most advanced armoured cars anywhere.
1991 K. Bentley in E. Prov. Herald 21 Nov. 8The ZA-35 is based on a slightly modified Rooikat (8 x 8) armoured car chassis.
1992 D.W. Potgieter in Sunday Times 16 Aug. 10The Rooikat, South Africa’s much-vaunted armoured car, was launched in 1988 and had everything its designers planned — except a searchlight.
The caracal, Felis caracal of the Felidae, a fierce, lynx-like predator, especially among sheep and poultry; red cat. Also attributive.
With initial capital.An armoured combat-vehicle used by the South African (National) Defence Force.
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rooihout, nounn.rooikrans, nounn.
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