‖steeks, adjective

/stɪəks/
Forms:
Also steuks, sticks.
Origin:
Afrikaans, DutchShow more Afrikaans, from Dutch steegs.
Usually of horses: obstinate, inclined to jib.
Note:
It appears that this word is being interpreted by non- Afrikaans speakers as a plural noun in many of the quotations.
1882 C. Du Val With Show through Sn Afr. I. 115Every hill resolved itself into a battle with the horses; there being one or two ‘sticks’ amongst the team.
1887 J. Mackinnon S. Afr. Traits 163There we stand at the bottom of a steep hill, struggling with our horses, who have taken it into their heads not to move an inch further — they have become ‘steeks,’ as the Boers say.
1893 F.C. Selous Trav. & Adventure 157He was a big powerful animal and wonderfully steady shooting horse, but liable to become sulky and refuse to run at his best pace — a phase of temper recognised by the Transvaal Boers, and described by them by the word ‘steeks,’ — and when in this mood spurring was simply wasted upon him.
1902 C. Warren On Veldt in Seventies 92The horses of this country are mostly ‘sticks,’ i.e., they get sulky, at times, and will not move when they are put into a cart.
1924 S.G. Millin God’s Step-Children 164He turned round to Edith and said. ‘The horses are steuks, Little Missis’...Most of her recollections of driving were connected with horses bewitched into an immobility that was only varied by a plunging resistance to any forward impulse, while the native drivers plaintively remarked that the horses were steuks again.
1970 B.C. Maritz Informant, Port Elizabeth (now Gqeberha), Eastern CapeThat horse of yours will have to be ridden as he is getting steeks.
obstinate, inclined to jib.
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18821970
steekgras, nounn.steen, nounn.
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