voetganger, noun
- Origin:
- South African Dutch, DutchShow more South African Dutch, from Dutch voet foot + ganger one who goes.
1. A hopper, or locust in its immature wingless stage; footganger sense 1; voetloper sense 1. Also attributive. See also rooibaadjie sense 2, sprinkaan sense 1.
1824 S. Afr. Jrnl I. 70The flying locusts are..less dreaded in this colony, than those which have not quite reached that stage of maturity, and are..vulgarly called ‘voetgangers’.
1983 Govt Gaz. Vol.214 No.8661, 8A user of land shall forthwith notify the nearest available magistrate, justice of the peace, police officer or officer of the department if flying locusts or voetgangers have appeared on the land concerned, [etc.].
‖2. A person who goes on foot.
a. In historical contexts. An infantryman; footganger sense 2.
1900 P.J. Du Toit Diary (1974) 10A man is just relating how they looted cattle a few days ago. He says ‘a battery of 200 voetgangers’ attacked them.
1902 C.R. De Wet Three Yrs War 410They knew that not only would they have to be voetgangers, but also that if they were captured they would be very severely punished by the English.
b. rare. A pedestrian; one who walks; voetloper sense 2.
1911 P. Gibbon Margaret Harding 133‘If a man had been meant for a voetganger’ (a walker) — he watched the effect of the Dutch word on the Boer — ‘he’d have been made with four feet.’
1981 E. Prov. Herald 4 May 12I would want to license all voetgangers (those who go on foot), commonly known as pedestrians. It must be made clear at the outset that I am one of the most active voetgangers, preferring to walk rather than to drive a car.
c. rare. A tramp.
1928 L.P. Greene Adventure Omnibus 640We would have to go on foot, become voet gangers, or stay at one place and grow fat. ‘I had not thought of that, Bass’, he admitted. ‘We are no voet gangers, we two.’
1949 L.G. Green In Land of Afternoon 144In some ways the voetganger of a century ago fared better than the modern tramp who rides in limousines and covers a thousand miles a week.
A hopper, or locust in its immature wingless stage; footganger sense 1; voetloper sense 1. Also attributive.
A person who goes on foot.
An infantryman; footganger sense 2.
A pedestrian; one who walks; voetloper sense 2.
A tramp.
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