cheesa, verbal noun

/ˈtʃiːzə/
Forms:
chessa, chisaShow more Also chessa, chisa, tshisa.
Origin:
Fanakalo, isiZuluShow more Adaptation of Fanakalo tshisa, from isiZulu shisa make hot, burn, set alight.
Mining
Heating, burning, blasting; used attributively and in combination, especially in mining terms adapted from Fanakalo, as cheesa-boy, a man who ignites the fuses during blasting operations, and cheesa-stick, a hand-held fuse-igniter.
1915 A. Marshall Explosives 441In South Africa ‘Cheesa sticks’ are used, which consist of sticks of cordite with ammonium oxalate and shellac.
1956 K. Courlander I Speak of Afr. 164The rock-breaker would fill these apertures with explosives and the ‘cheesa boy’..would come along with a slow-burning fuse.
1957 As a Matter of Fact (P.R.D. Series, No.56) 15Cheesa-stick, a slow-burning fuse igniter consisting of a hard cardboard tube filled with an inflammable mixture.
[1958 A. Sampson Treason Cage 35Letters connected with the African National Congress had been written from a so-called ‘Cheesa-Cheesa Army’, calling on people to burn down Afrikaner houses and churches.]
1960 Star 9 Nov.Muthuso, a Bechuana ‘cheesa boy’, or fuse lighter, was lighting fuses under the direction of the European ganger.
1970 B.C. Maritz Informant, Port Elizabeth (now Gqeberha), Eastern CapePass me the cheesa pipe to cut this metal (cutting torch).
1971 P.J. Silva Informant, Coalbrook, Free StateCheesa stick. A stick more or less 2'6" long used to light the fuse to the dynamite in a coal mine.
1983 Mining Dict. (Terminology Bureau) 44Cheesa stick.
1988 J. Matlou in Staffrider Vol.7 No.3, 52Before the blasting, small holes were drilled in the walls and a man referred to as chessaboy put explosives into them.
1988 M.A. Wilson Informant, Johannesburg, GautengChesa-stick (pron. cheeza). The usage is common in the mining industry and is: ‘The hand-held, and long-burning stick used to light fuses.’
1989 B. Courtenay Power of One 481Back at the grizzly level you connect the cordtex to a fuse, signal the African to blow the warning hooter, light the fuse with a cheesa stick, a flare the size of a thick pencil which, once lit, cannot be extinguished.
1989 B. Courtenay Power of One 488In my dream I held the lighted cheesa stick to the fuse, waiting for the familiar kick of sparks to indicate that it was alight.
Heating, burning, blasting; used attributively and in combination, especially in mining terms adapted from Fanakalo, as cheesa-boy, a man who ignites the fuses during blasting operations, and cheesa-stick, a hand-held fuse-igniter.
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Fanakalo
IsiZulu
cheeky, adjectiveadj.cheese-kop, adjectiveadj. & nounn.
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