kas, noun

/kas/
Plurals:
kaste/ˈkastə/.
Origin:
Afrikaans, DutchShow more Afrikaans, from Dutch kast cupboard, or perhaps kas box or chest.
1. A cupboard. See also koskas, muurkas.
1971 L.G. Green Taste of S.-Easter 46The original Dutch kas was a sea-chest; and scores of them, if not hundreds, must have been carried on shore when Van Riebeeck landed.
1971 Baraitser & Obholzer Cape Country Furn. 267Most of the Riversdale kaste are so constructed that they can be dismantled — a necessity for easy transport.
1977 F.G. Butler Karoo Morning 81The oubaas had told him No, he’d better maar choose a suit from the kas.
1984 S. Gray Three Plays 132Hendrik..I found your kappie for you..It was in the kas, the one with the flowers on.
1987 J. Kench Cottage Furn. 41As with other kinds of furniture, yellowwood and stinkwood versions of cupboards were made, including the imposing Cape ‘kaste’ and ‘muurkaste’.
1993 A. Visser in House & Leisure Nov. 72Two porcelain vases from Martha’s Vineyard perched on a Sandveld kas.
2. figurative. Army slang. Detention barracks.
1971 C. Britz Informant, Grahamstown (now Makhanda, Eastern Cape)Don’t get caught by the M.P.s wearing my army tackies in town. You’ll get thrown in the kas, boy.
A cupboard.
Detention barracks.
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figurative or allusive
slang
karweier, nounn.kasi, nounn. & adjectiveadj.
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