takhaar, noun

/ˈtakhɑː(r)/
Forms:
taak haar, taak haarerShow more Also taak haar, taak haarer, takhar, takkard, tokkara.
Plurals:
takhaars, occasionally takhare, takhara /ˈtakhɑːrə/, or (formerly) takharen.
Origin:
AfrikaansShow more Afrikaans, tak branch + haar hair.
derogatory
a. In historical contexts. An Afrikaner rustic or backwoodsman, usually wearing his hair long (sometimes for religious reasons), and often of an unkempt appearance. Also attributive. passing into adjective, especially in the collocation takhaar Boer. b. backvelder, see backveld. Also attributive, and transferred sense (see quotation 1971).
1899 G.H. Russell Under Sjambok 45Their unkempt hair hung down on to their shoulders, for they were what colonials call ‘taak haarers,’ or ‘doppers’.
1900 Grocott’s Penny Mail 9 July 4Many of these back country ‘takhaaren’ had never seen a train when the war broke out.
1903 D. Blackburn Burgher Quixote 287Although Paul had once been a Taakhaar Boer and a Dopper, he had long ceased to be one, cutting his hair twice a-year so that he might not be thought one.
1910 J. Buchan Prester John 32It may be the natives, or it may be the taakhaars, or it may be something else.
1925 P. Smith Little Karoo (1936) 15His lank dust-coloured hair, fading with age instead of turning grey, and worn long like a Tak-Haar Boer’s from the Transvaal, gave him a wild and unkempt look.
1937 H.C. Armstrong Grey Steel 20They had grown..into unkempt, difficult people, uneducated takhara.
1946 V. Pohl Adventures of Boer Family 17A middle-aged Boer of the old Paul Kruger type (a Takhaar some would have called him).
1951 J. Wedgewood Last of Radicals 13The other interview was with Schalk Meyer. They rudely called him a ‘dopper’ and a ‘takkard’.
1961 L.E. Van Onselen Trekboer 51Roaming around Bushmanland, I met one Trekboer after another...They would say earnestly: ‘Cousin! if you want to see real wild folk, then go onto the Knersvlakte. Here you will find the genuine takhare.’
1971 Rand Daily Mail 25 May 11Commentator Gerhard Viviers (well known for his scathing comments on British ‘takhare’).
1972 Het Suid-Western 16 Mar. 2Those..outbursts of violence that would be more apt in the context of a political meeting of takhare in the deep north.
1985 Gardner & Chapman in Voorslag 1–3 34Takhaar, literally ‘branch-hair’ (Afrikaans); contemptuous term for a backveld Afrikaner.
An Afrikaner rustic or backwoodsman, usually wearing his hair long (sometimes for religious reasons), and often of an unkempt appearance. Also attributive. passing into adjective, especially in the collocation takhaar Boer.
backvelder, see backveld. Also attributive, and transferred sense (see quotation 1971).
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18991985
tailor bird, noun phrasen. phr.takkie, nounn.2
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