fore-louper, noun

Forms:
foerlouper, forelooperShow more Also foerlouper, forelooper, foreloper.
Origin:
Calque formed on South African Dutch voorloper.
obs.
voorloper sense 1.
1848 H. Ward Five Yrs in Kaffirland I. 135Some society would probably be established for providing a dress for the fore-louper,..and some species of comfortable leggings for the wagon-oxen.
1852 H. Ward Jasper Lyle 102Drivers, foreloupers (leaders of the draught cattle), guides and oxen..drank thankfully of the slimy waters.
1860 A.W. Drayson Sporting Scenes 15A..Hottentot boy or Fingoe is employed to perform the part of leader: he is called ‘forelouper’, his duty being to hold a small rope that is fastened to the horns of the two front oxen, and to lead them in the right road.
1878 T.J. Lucas Camp Life & Sport 43The oxen are not guided by reins as in the mule waggons, but are led in different places by a ‘foer louper,’ or runner.
1880 E.F. Sandeman Eight Months in Ox-Waggon 46We selected..a strong, tall half-caste from the old colony, as driver at 50s a month; another half-caste at 20s. as forelouper or leader of the oxen.
1882 J. Nixon Among Boers 131The patient oxen sitting or standing in long rows waiting the time for their master,..while the black ‘foreloopers’ or ‘forerunners’ squatted with equal patience in the dust.
1887 A.A. Anderson 25 Yrs in Waggon I. 9The foreloper, one who leads the two front oxen in dangerous places..was named Shilling.
1887 A.B. Ellis S. Afr. Sketches 108The Tottie ‘fore-louper’, or boy who leads the leading pair of oxen,..was standing by the span, shivering with cold.
1911 L. Cohen Reminisc. of Kimberley 397The Hottentot forelouper (or leader) guided the bullocks on their journey.
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18481911

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obsolete or obsolescent
fore-loup, verb intransitivev.foreslock, nounn.
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