ostrich, noun

/ˈɒstrɪdʒ//ˈɒstrɪtʃ/
Used attributively in Special Combinations
ostrich baron in historical contexts, a wealthy ostrich farmer;
ostrich camp [see camp noun2] a large enclosed field in which ostriches are kept;
ostrich derby, a race in which ostriches are used as mounts;
ostrich farm, a farm on which ostriches are reared; hence ostrich farmer, ostrich farming;
ostrich palace in historical contexts, feather palace (see feather sense b);
ostrich show-farm, a farm where ostriches and ostrich products are displayed as a tourist attraction;
ostrich wool obsolete, see quotation 1833.
Note:
Because of the economic significance of the ostrich industry, many of these terms have become current in South Africa. Some are not found in general English; others are, but were first used in South African English. See also feather.
1982 S. Afr. Panorama May 9After the Anglo-Boer War,..the Cape’s ‘ostrich barons’ were flourishing, building palatial residences for themselves.
1989 F.G. Butler Tales from Old Karoo 82There was the farm, a huge Victorian ostrich baron’s palace, with an ornate wooden verandah all round it.
1881 Meteor 31 May 2To the east lay the thatched farmhouse of Mr H.B. Guest surrounded by a number of Ostrich camps, where could be see[n] the feathery lord of the arid plains stalking about his domains.
1883 M.A. Carey-Hobson Farm in Karoo 244The next day they all went down to the ostrich camp.
1899 B. Mitford Weird of Deadly Hollow 244One night, a week or so later, the Baas heard something in the ostrich camp.
1933 W.H.S. Bell Bygone Days 42The shrubbery had disappeared and the land it occupied had been converted into an ostrich camp.
1968 F. Goldie Ostrich Country 56 (caption)The famous ‘ostrich derby’ on Safari farm.
c1881 A. Douglass Ostrich Farming 203Cattle are an essential item on every Ostrich farm.
1885 A. Newton in Encycl. Brit. XVIII. 62The great mercantile value of ostrich-feathers..led to the formation in the Cape Colony..of numerous ‘Ostrich-farms’.
1930 M.F. Wormser Ostrich Indust. in S. Afr. (Sect. viii) 19Lasting fences..cost a great deal of money, being..one of the most expensive items in starting an ostrich farm.
1973 G.J. Broekhuysen in Std Encycl. of Sn Afr. VIII. 397Ostrich farms were established..when the..feathers..were in great demand for women’s hats.
1875 S. Afr. 223Ostrich farmers, in domesticating the bird, have apparently a regard to moral training.
1896 R. Wallace Farming Indust. of Cape Col. 221Since the decline in value of ostrich feathers..and the consequent narrowing of profits accruing to the ostrich farmer, artificial incubation had gone out of fashion.
1955 D.L. Hobman Olive Schreiner 95Mattison had heard some rumours..of her engagement to a young South African ostrich-farmer.
1971 B. Biermann Red Wine 143The wealthy ostrich farmers of Oudtshoorn were building cast-iron palaces.
1875 S. Afr. 220It is difficult to say who was the first to begin ostrich-farming at the Cape.
1880 S.W. Silver & Co.’s Handbk to S. Afr. 230It may be considered a settled law of ostrich-farming that free space and good fences are essential to success.
1908 M.C. Bruce New TvlOstrich farming is not..a Transvaal industry, and has been confined chiefly to the Cape Colony and the Orange River Colony.
1970 C. van H. Du Plessis in Std Encycl. of Sn Afr. I. 246Ostrich-farming made an important contribution to the development of the farming industry...For the first time in South Africa pasture-land was fenced off.
1973 Std Encycl. of Sn Afr. VIII. 406Of several ‘ostrich palaces’, built..when the ostrich industry was at its peak, one named Pinehurst was proclaimed a historical monument in 1966.
1988 M. Trump in Staffrider Vol.7 No.1, 29So-called ostrich-palaces..were built at the end of the last century by Afrikaner farmers of the Oudtshoorn district with the wealth they had recently acquired during the ostrich feather boom.
1988 D. Hughes et al. Complete Bk of S. Afr. Wine 294In the town of Oudtshoorn a few examples still survive of the ‘ostrich palaces’, the ornately splendid Edwardian houses which sprang up here at the height of the ostrich feather boom at the beginning of the century.
1968 F. Goldie Ostrich Country 75One of the great success stories of our day concerns the ostrich show farms..outside Oudtshoorn.
1991 Sn Afr. from Highway 134Ostrich show-farms..fascinate many thousands of visitors each year.
1833 S. Afr. Almanac & Dir. 164Ostrich wool..is the soft down lying close under the feathers of the Ostrich. It is used in lieu of Beaver in Europe.
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