brandwag, noun

/ˈbrantvax/
Forms:
Formerly also brandwacht.
Plurals:
brandwagte/ˈbrantvaxtə/.
Origin:
Afrikaans, DutchShow more Afrikaans (from Dutch brandwacht), brand fire + wag guard.
1. In historical contexts. A picket, sentry, or outpost.
1895 Cape Times Christmas No. 45The Boers..adopted a very effective system of outposts...Such parties were known as the ‘Brand Wacht,’ the term probably being a relic of the old custom of giving the alarm by means of beacon fires.
1899 F.R.M. Cleaver in M.M. Cleaver Young S. Afr. (1913) 35I am duly installed under a Veldcornet, and to-night will take my spell of brandwacht (sentry) by sitting behind the wagons smoking.
1900 P.J. Du Toit Diary (1974) 32Three Transvaal burghers..who had joined the English, were following the trail of the laager, and not being aware of our presence, rode straight into our brandwacht.
1913 C. Pettman Africanderisms 86Brandwacht,..An old term which was revived during the Boer War of 1899–1902. It had reference to the old custom of giving alarm by means of beacon fires, but it was applied by the Boers to the system of outposts adopted by them during the war.
1940 F.B. Young City of Gold 186Out on the veld, in a wide perimeter, strong outposts (or Brandwagte) kept watch and guard.
1946 E. Rosenthal General De Wet 23Commandant-General Joubert had himself envisaged the possible coup, and had ordered a special guard or brandwacht to be kept.
1980 A.J. Blignaut Dead End Rd 58We camped on the slope of the koppie that evening and the brandwag reported that the enemy was preparing for an attack at dawn.
‖2. Frequently with initial capital. [Probably so named after the Ossewa Brandwag, see OB noun1] The armed guard of the Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging (see AWB).
1986 Weekend Argus 8 Mar.This, he says, is why the Boere-brandwag wing has now been started so that every Boer could be part of the resistance of the volk. The brandwag is also supposed to help when ‘gangs of murderers descend on us.’
1986 P. Van Niekerk in New Statesman (U.K.) 11 Apr. 17At his public meetings Terre’ Blanche has been wildly cheered, while calling for the establishment of a Brandwag — his own armed vigilante group.
1988 Scope 6 May 30Already members of the Brandwag, the AWB’s civil guard, are doing combat training at secret rendezvous.
1988 C. Legum in Afr. Contemp. Rec. 1986–7 B737Although there were no proven cases of the AWB having been involved in vigilante attacks on Black activists and White liberals, allegations were frequently made that its paramilitary, the Brandwag, was behind such attacks.
A picket, sentry, or outpost.
Frequently with initial capital. [Probably so named after the Ossewa Brandwag, see OB noun1] The armed guard of the Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging (see AWB).
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