boetabessie, noun
- Origin:
- AfrikaansShow more Afrikaans, boeta see boeta + bessie berry; see quotation 1966.
1. The bush-tick berry (bush-tick sense 2), Chrysanthemoides monilifera.
1988 R.A. Lubke et al. Field Guide to E. Cape Coast 174The first vegetation..as one moves away from the shore is Dune Thicket. Along the margin of the scrub the dominant shrubs..generally include Chrysanthemoides monilifera (boetabessie).
2. figurative. rare. Usually with initial capitals, Boeta Bessie. [Punningly, by conflation of boeta with Afrikaans boete, a fine or penalty, and bessie with the female given name Bessie.] A jocular name for a meter-maid or traffic warden.
1984 J. Ryan in E. Prov. Herald 23 June 4Bonn’s equivalent of our Boeta Bessies hand out 15 000 pink slips a year to three-and-a-half thousand vehicles belonging to the Corps Diplomatique.
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