Stellenbosch, verb transitive

/ˈstelənbɒʃ/
Forms:
Also with small initial.
Origin:
Name of a town in the Western Cape which was far from military action during the Anglo-Boer War; see Daily Telegraph quotation 1900.
military slang
Especially during the Anglo-Boer War: to relegate (an incompetent officer) to a position in which little harm could be done. Also transferred, and figurative.
a. passive.
1900 R. Kipling in Daily Express 16 June 4‘After all’, said one cheerily..‘what does it matter, old man? You’re bound to be Stellenbosched in three days?’
1900 Daily Telegraph (U.K.) 2 Oct. 6I heard..that he had been ‘Stellenbosched’...I must inform the uninitiated that Stellenbosch..was formerly the place selected for command by officers who had failed in Kaffir wars; and to be ‘Stellenbosched’ is the equivalent of being superseded without formal disgrace.
1901 W.E. Cairnes Army from Within 59In fact they are more probably ‘stellenbosched’ to the depot owing to an absence of any special qualifications.
1901 J. Ralph War’s Brighter Side 106To say that a man had been Stellenbosched was but the ordinary polite mode of mentioning what might otherwise have had to be said in many harsher words.
1902 C.R. De Wet Three Yrs War 256This veldkornet was shortly afterwards ‘Stellenbosched’.
1921 W.C. Scully Harrow 16This officer..was, shortly after the first of the raiding Boers from the north crossed the border of the district, ‘Stellenbosched’.
1937 G.F. Gibson Story of Imp. Light Horse 243Much to our joy, Barton has been Stellenbosched (a term frequently used in those days, meaning that a certain officer had been relieved of his command) as he has treated us shamefully.
1976 E. Prov. Herald 17 Apr. 6While some poor generals were being Stellenbosched, banks were burning in the free State, among them the Vrede branch of the old National Bank of the OFS.
1991 D. Livingstone Littoral Zone 58The storm fumbles, folds its podium: Down in the mouth, gets Stellenbosched south, booted on its journey by the dawn.
b. active.
1900 Daily Telegraph (U.K.) 20 Oct. 7It is a gross injustice to Stellenbosch any doctor because some nurse does not get her own way, and has influence in high quarters.
1913 Times Lit. Suppl. (U.K.) 24 July 309Take the phrase ‘to Stellenbosch,’ a household word during the war for the shelving of an incompetent officer.
1975 J.H. Picard in Eng. Usage in Sn Afr. Vol.6 No.1, 35The British military tradition in South Africa is very old. To ‘Stellenbosch’ an officer, that is to transfer him to a less responsible appointment where he would be out of harm’s way, is a typical example.
to relegate (an incompetent officer) to a position in which little harm could be done. Also transferred, and figurative.
Derivatives:
Hence Stellenbosch  noun (alluding to the verbal usage).
1903 R. Kipling Five Nations 196We were sugared about by the old men...That ’hamper and ’inder and scold men For fear o’ Stellenbosch!
1921 W.C. Scully Harrow 18He was now a man marked down for transfer to Stellenbosch upon the first feasible pretext.
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19001991

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Stellenbosch, n.

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stellasie, nounn.Stem, nounn.
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