vryer, noun

/ˈfreɪə(r)/
Forms:
Formerly also vrijer.
Origin:
Afrikaans.
A lover or sweetheart. Also figurative.
1882 J. Nixon Among Boers 214I have often been curious to how the young vrijer, or lover, manages to make known to the fair one his wish to ‘opzit’, or sit up, for the purpose of courting.
1883 O.E.A. Schreiner Story of Afr. Farm 163She herself contemplated marriage within the year with one or other of her numerous ‘vrijers’ and she suggested that the weddings might take place together.
1963 A.M. Louw 20 Days 91Above her bed were two framed postcard-size pictures: one of a stout Coloured woman dressed in country Sunday best; the other of a young Coloured man...He said: ‘Your mother and your vryer — your sweetheart?’
1965 C. Van Heyningen Orange Days 54He offered himself to be Ada’s vryer (sweetheart).
1980 J. Scott in Daily Dispatch 27 Feb. 13He saw the PFP as a threat to his own romantic inclinations. Far from being a flower girl at somebody else’s wedding. He was a vryer in his own right...It was at this point that Mr P— miraculously switched, like Mr R—, from accuser to vryer.
1982 C. Hope Private Parts 73Parking lots and Sundry vryers’ hideaways from the Union Buildings to the Fountains.
A lover or sweetheart. Also figurative.
Entry Navigation

Visualise Quotations

Quotation summary

Senses

18821982

Browse Related Words

By Category

Family and Social Relationships

By Origin

Afrikaans

By Usage

figurative or allusive
vryburger, nounn.vryery, nounn.
Copyright © 2025 Dictionary Unit for South African English