komfoor, noun

/ˈkɔmfʊə(r)/
Forms:
comfore, confoorShow more Also comfore, confoor, komfore, komvoor, konfoor.
Plurals:
komfoors, komfore/ˈkɔmfʊərə/.
Origin:
Dutch, AfrikaansShow more Dutch (Afrikaans konfoor).
A charcoal brazier, in one of two forms:
a. A warmer for a kettle or pot, usually of brass, with decorative perforations; tessie sense a. b. A foot-warmer in the form of a small (wooden) box with perforated lid; stoof; stoofie; stove; voetstofie.
1841 Cape of G.H. Almanac & Annual Register (advt)Tools of all descriptions...Coffee and Pepper Mills, Strykyzers, Brushes, Kettles, and Komfores.
1844 J. Backhouse Narr. of Visit 84To preserve warmth, the Dutch women use an apparatus to set their feet upon, called a Komfoor.
1871 J. Mackenzie Ten Yrs N. of Orange River 15Jufvrouw would prefer the charcoal ‘komfoor’ to a spinning-wheel.
1910 D. Fairbridge That Which Hath Been (1913) 95The inevitable coffee, in a graceful brass vessel, simmered over the komvoor.
1926 P.W. Laidler Tavern of Ocean 77After drinking he re-lit his pipe with charcoal from a komfoor.
1927 C.G. Botha Social Life in Cape Col. 54Silver spoons, forks, teapots,..candlesticks, tea kettles with ‘confoors,’ [etc.].
1940 ‘B. Knight’ Walking the Whirlwind 144She signalled to the slave near the door to hand round charcoal from the komfoor to relight some of the pipes.
1951 Cape Times 6 Sept. 16Samovars are almost as common in Cape Town as komvoors and spittoons used to be in the salesrooms.
1957 L.G. Green Beyond City Lights 229Many a copper kettle (and konfoor to keep the coffee hot) was hammered out in the early days.
1957 L.G. Green Beyond City Lights 230To-day you can pay as much as twenty-five guineas for a small, artistic koffie-ketel with its konfoor, simply because such things seldom come on the market.
c1963 B.C. Tait Durban Story 137There was my best after ox, old Blueberg, with his hind foot jammed in the old missus’ ‘comfore’ (a brass charcoal brazier used as a foot-warmer or to boil a coffee kettle).
1963 A.M. Louw 20 Days 10Adriaan noticed that the spirit lamp was still burning in the konfoor under the antique silver coffee urn.
1965 M.G. Atmore Cape Furn. 84The footwarmers or komvoors fall into a different category...Since these komvoors were accepted in society in winter, they were probably used without heating as footstools in the summer months. The shapes are rather similar to the brass komfoors or stoofjes used in Holland in the first half of the 18th century.
1965 A. Gordon-Brown S. Afr. Heritage II. 23Three old Brass Konfoors intended to contain burning coals to keep a kettle hot.
1972 A.A. Telford Yesterday’s Dress 81She sits drinking coffee with her bare feet upon a ‘komfoor’ which as its name implies was wooden ‘chaufette’ containing a pan of charcoal, a comfortable footwarmer.
1973 M.A. Cook Cape Kitchen 100The coffee pot was an important piece of Kitchen or pantry or breakfast-room furniture, and was kept continually hot on a konfoor.
1974 S. Afr. Panorama Sept. 37Pans, skimmers, mortars and coffee pots with their ‘konfore’ (warming stands).
1982 S. Afr. Panorama Sept. 15The coffee pots, dish warmers, jugs, candlesticks, konfoors (coffee pot stands), milking pails,..were just as good in all respects as those made abroad.
1986 S. Afr. Panorama Aug. 48‘Konfore’ (small braziers on short legs on which the tea or coffee pots were kept warm).
A warmer for a kettle or pot, usually of brass, with decorative perforations; tessie sense a.
A foot-warmer in the form of a small (wooden) box with perforated lid; stoof; stoofie; stove; voetstofie.
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kombuis, nounn.kommandant, nounn.
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