‖sprinkaan, noun

/ˈsprəŋkɑːn/
Forms:
Also springhaan, springkaan.
Plurals:
springkane/ˈsprəŋkɑnə/, and (formerly) springhaane.
Origin:
Afrikaans, DutchShow more Afrikaans, from Dutch sprinkhaan, sprink jump, leap + (obsolete) haan singing creature.
1. A locust; springer sense 3. See also voetganger sense 1.
[1835 A. Steedman Wanderings I. 125An immense swarm of young locusts, covering the ground..sprang with great agility, deriving from this circumstance the Dutch name of Spring-kaan.]
1872 in A.M.L. Robinson Sel. Articles from Cape Monthly Mag. (1978) 282We shall lend a hand to drive out the ‘springhaane’, but we shall resign ourselves to the irrepressible ‘voetgangers’.
1913 C. Pettman Africanderisms 469Springhaan,..A common name in South Africa for all varieties of Locustidae.
1958 Pietersburg Eng. Medium School Mag. Dec. 32No doubt the ‘scourge of Tanganyika’ — the agile sprinkaan [printed sprikaan] —..will soon be in rapid retreat.
1982 Sunday Times 21 Mar. 44The Boers always said that the British would have to shoot three bullets for every one they shot, but when the English came they left like springkane (locusts).
2. combinations
sprinkaanbos/-bɔs/ noun [Afrikaans, bos bush], either of two poisonous plants of the Asteraceae, Senecio burchellii or S. ilicifolius;
sprinkaan Senecio, Senecio ilicifolius (see preceding);
sprinkaanvoël/-ˌfʊəl/, formerly also springhaan vogel [Afrikaans voël, Dutch vogel bird], locust-bird.
1934 C.P. Swart Supplement to Pettman. 165Sprinkaanbos,..The popular name of a Senecio plant that is often the cause of bread-poisoning.
1934 Farming in S. Afr. Feb. 46 (Swart)Every mill in which grain is milled for human consumption shall be provided with efficient sieving and winnowing appliances, so as completely to remove the seeds of Senecio (Sprinkaanbos).
1957 Handbk for Farmers (Dept of Agric.) III. 464Certain poisonous plants, such as ‘sprinkaanbos’, cause severe constipation and loss of appetite, and so may indirectly cause domsiekte.
1974 M.R. Levyns in Std Encycl. of Sn Afr. X. 235Sprinkaanbos. (Senecio ilicifolius; S. burchellii.) In the Riversdale district the same name is given to both these species of the family Compositae.
1988 J. Munday Poisonous Plants in S. Afr. Gardens & Parks 37Humans have been poisoned in this country by ingesting the indigenous species, S. burchellii and S. ilicifolius (both known as ‘Sprinkaanbos’).
1966 Henderson & Anderson Common Weeds 392Senecio ilicifolius L,..Sprinkaan Senecio...An indigenous species that was proclaimed a noxious weed because of the poisonous properties that it imparts to flour made from wheat containing parts of the Senecio plant as an impurity.
1824 S. Afr. Jrnl I. 71We have not got a good description of the South African springhaan vogel, further than that it is rather larger than the mountain swallow, and spotted.
1828 T. Pringle Ephemerides 177If they (sc. locusts) happen to be accompanied, or rather pursued, by the birds, called by the African farmer springhaan vogels,..the prospect is less appalling, since these birds..subsist on them alone.
1839 W.C. Harris Wild Sports 81Prodigious swarms of locusts..were followed by such dense flights of birds as almost to darken the air. The springhaan-vogel, as the latter is called by the colonists, is about the size of a swallow.
1877 R.M. Ballantyne Settler & Savage 254Locust-swarms are followed by a little bird — named springhaan-vogel or locust-bird — which comes in such dense flocks as almost to darken the air. These locust-birds are about the size of a swallow, with numerous speckles like a starling.
1923 Haagner & Ivy Sketches of S. Afr. Bird-Life 10The true Locust Bird, or Klein Springhaan Vogel, is the celebrated Wattled Starling.
1959 L.G. Green These Wonders 175Farmers know that the sprinkaanvoel can be relied upon to clear the veld of locusts and other unwelcome insects.
A locust; springer sense 3.
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springhare, nounn.sprout, nounn.
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