thornveld, noun

Forms:
Formerly also thorn veldt.
Origin:
English, AfrikaansShow more English thorn + Afrikaans veld (see veld sense 2 c).
Land on which thorny trees and bushes are the predominant vegetation.
1878 A. Aylward Tvl of Today 246Four young men, all Africanders, nearly lost their lives in the Speckboom thornveld.
1907 T.R. Sim Forests & Forest Flora 4Thorn-veldt..produces park-like scenery and yields valuable fuel.
1926 M. Nathan S. Afr. from Within 209This ‘Thorn Veld’ is interspersed with grassy tracts, and towards Natal and Zululand forests are met with.
1961 D. Rooke Lover for Estelle 6The thornveld was like a park, with flat-topped trees scattered over the grassy plain.
1967 D. Edwards Plant-Ecological Survey of Tugela River Basin 201This Thorn Veld has extended over large areas of former Themeda-Hyparrhenia Grassland.
1975 J.P.H. Acocks Veld Types 13The veld today is more or less open thornveld with numerous and extensive patches of forest.
1980 Farmer’s Weekly 30 July 67Properly run, Boer-goats can be a paying proposition on the thorn veld.
1987 Pace Oct. 167The sun set over the thornveld like a big molten globe of burnished red.
1991 D.M. Moore Garden Earth 197In the thornveld many of the trees have small leaves, which reduce the potential loss of water through evaporation.
Land on which thorny trees and bushes are the predominant vegetation.
Entry Navigation

Visualise Quotations

Quotation summary

Senses

18781991