waboom, noun

/ˈvɑːbʊəm/
Forms:
vaboom, waaboomShow more Also vaboom, waaboom, and (formerly) wagenboom.
Origin:
South African Dutch, AfrikaansShow more South African Dutch wagenboom, later Afrikaans waboom (wa wagon + boom tree); see quotation 1822 (sense b).
a. In full waboomhout /-həʊt/ [Afrikaans hout wood] the timber of any of several species of Protea (of the family Proteaceae), especially the reddish wood of Protea nitida; wagon wood. Also attributive.
1790 tr. of F. Le Vaillant’s Trav. I. 255A few paltry woods, which had some resemblance to that named Wage-Boom.
1957 L.G. Green Beyond City Lights 89They started a fire of waboomhout for comfort.
1957 L.G. Green Beyond City Lights 149The wood has a beautiful grain, and a floor of waboom blocks is a grand sight.
1967 W.A. De Klerk White Wines 29A bubbling tea billy over a waboom fire.
1971 Baraitser & Obholzer Cape Country Furn. 268Old household utensils of every sort are very common in the Sandveld and it is not unusual to find them still in use, particularly botterbakke of waboom, stampkarrings and teak vats.
1975 S. Afr. Panorama July 12Indigenous waboomhout (wagon wood) was used for the roof beams and window frames.
b. Any of several species of Protea, especially P. nitida, which grows up to 7m in height and bears pale yellow flowers; wagonboom; wagon tree. Also attributive.
1795 C.R. Hopson tr. of C.P. Thunberg’s Trav. II. 24Near the mountains are sometimes seen a few low and scattered trees of the Protea grandiflora species (Waageboom).
1822 W.J. Burchell Trav. I. 123We passed some large trees of Wagenboom (Protea grandiflora), so called by the colonists because the wood of it has been found suitable for making the fellies of wagon-wheels. It is reddish, and has a very pretty, reticulated grain.
1873 J.W. Dawson Earth & Man 258Cone-like fruits belonging to the Proteaceae (..wagenbooms, etc.).
1906 B. Stoneman Plants & their Ways 31Tannin is excellent for preserving leather..and so the beautiful Protea cynaroides (Wagen boom), [etc.] are destroyed for this substance.
1907 T.R. Sim Forests & Forest Flora 6The whole country has, not very long ago, been Protea-veldt, the Sugarbush and the Wagenboom (or Vaboom) growing to considerable size.
1917 R. Marloth Dict. of Common Names of Plants 87Waa’boom (Wagen -).
1961 Palmer & Pitman Trees of S. Afr. 220The waboom is one of the tallest of the genus Protea and is found in dry rocky parts of the Cape, often with a trunk a foot or more in diameter. It has handsome, very blue foliage, oval leaves and large pale yellow flowers 2 to 4 inches in diameter, rather like a stiff, round shaving brush.
1976 W. Héfer in Optima Vol.26 No.2, 46Among the big Proteas are the wabooms or wagon trees, so called because their exceptionally hard wood was used for brake blocks, and the sledges on which the early pioneers of the Great Trek pulled their wagons..over the mountains of the interior.
1982 S. Afr. Panorama May 39In 1816 Latrobe..recorded that when his supply of ink was finished he continued his diary ‘with ink made from the leaves of the Wagenboom’. This was Protea arborea.
1988 P.E. Raper tr. of R.J. Gordon’s Cape Trav. 1777–86 I. 162The mountains and ridges bore wagenbomen leucadendrons.
1989 Weekend Post 11 Nov. (Leisure) 4Waboomberg..was named for the waboom (Protea nitida), one of the tallest of the protea family.
In full waboomhoutthe timber of any of several species of Protea (of the family Proteaceae), especially the reddish wood of Protea nitida; wagon wood. Also attributive.
Any of several species of Protea, especially P. nitida, which grows up to 7m in height and bears pale yellow flowers; wagonboom; wagon tree. Also attributive.
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Afrikaans
waai, verb intransitivev.waenhuis, nounn.
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