| 释义 |
‖ voorloper S. Afr.|ˈfʊərlʊəpər|
Also voorlooper.
[Du., Afrikaans, f. Du. voor- before + loopen to run (see leap v.).]
A native boy who walks with the foremost pair of a team of oxen in order to guide them. Also fig.
1837J. E. Alexander Western Afr. I. xiii. 323 Then a long wagon would pass..drawn by a span of ten or fourteen oxen under the guidance of a voorlooper, a brown boy, holding occasionally a small rope attached to the horns of the leading bullocks. 1852C. Barter Dorp & Veld vii. 49 Our driver and leader, or voor looper, were both Hottentots. 1878Aylward Transvaal of To-day ii. 18 note, Every team of bullocks has a leader, generally a native boy, who holds a tow-line fastened to the horns of the front oxen, hence the word ‘Voorlooper’. 1885Rider Haggard K. Solomon's Mines i, A wagon, with a driver, a voorlooper, and a Kafir hunter. 1899G. H. Russell Under Sjambok 50 But, have you not got me a driver and voorloper? 1947Cape Argus 22 Feb. 4 We in the pilot train are at first sight everywhere mistaken for the royal train itself. In time..the fact that we are merely the ‘voorloper’ of royalty will become more generally known. 1974Weekend Post 21 Dec. 2 Clandestine trips were made across the Great Fish River, and it was on these that George Wood became a ‘voorloper’ of the oxen. |