beer-drink, noun

In both urban and rural African society: a traditional social or ceremonial gathering for the drinking of beer; beer-drinking. Also attributive.
1879 R.J. Atcherley Trip to Boërland 68They were going to a ‘beer-drink’, and were totally out of these commodities; we were rich, would we make them a present of some?
1891 T.R. Beattie Ride through Transkei 67When a ‘beer-drink’ is on at any particular kraal they will not have to wait long for their neighbours to help them to get rid of the good stuff.
1905 P. Gibbon Vrouw Grobelaar 46Perhaps it began at a beer-drink with some boasting by the young men before the girls.
1913 C. Pettman Africanderisms 53The natives are in the habit of gathering on frequent occasions for the purpose of drinking ‘Kaffir beer’...Such a gathering is known as a Beer drink.
1929 J.G. Van Alphen Jan Venter 32There was a beer-drink last night, and they got playful. Somebody insulted somebody else’s sister, and kerries began to fly.
1937 B.J.F. Laubscher Sex, Custom & Psychopathology 200Fights at urban location beer-drinks leading to serious assaults are not uncommon.
1948 H.V. Morton In Search of S. Afr. 181The great social event of the Transkei, as of all native territories, I gathered, is what is called ‘a beer drink’.
1948 O. Walker Kaffirs Are Lively 178Children scavenge the streets, learning the lore of the faro-dens, marabi beer-drink dances, prostitutes’ hide-outs.
1953 P. Lanham Blanket Boy’s Moon 22Father Moruti, I freely promise that I will go no more at night from beer-drink to beer-drink.
1960 J.J.L. Sisson S. Afr. Judicial Dict. 86Beer drink, in terms of Act No. 32 of 1909 (C.), s. 11, and Proclamation No. 36 of 1914, means a gathering of natives who assemble together for the purpose of drinking beer.
1971 Daily Dispatch 25 Sept. 1Four Pondo tribesmen were killed when a 100-strong faction clashed with a group of 25 men in the Nyati area...The skirmish followed a beer drink.
1980 C. Rukuni in M. Mutloatse Forced Landing 176‘T-h-i-r-t-y cents! Do others buy beer at all or do they wait for you?’..That was how his wife always talked before he went off for a beer-drink.
1986 P.A. McAllister Xhosa Beer Drinks. p.viiThe main theoretical argument is that beer drinks may be regarded as ‘cultural performances’ in which social reality or ‘practice’ is dramatised and reflected upon...Beer drinks are dominated by verbal communication of various kinds.
1990 Weekend Post 1 Dec. 4He..conducted research for his PhD on the social significance of beer drinks and oratory in the Xhosa community.
a traditional social or ceremonial gathering for the drinking of beer; beer-drinking.
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18791990

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Traditional African Religion and Culture
beer-boep, nounn.beer-drinking, verbal nounvbl n.
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