wildebeesten

English

Etymology

From early Afrikaans wildebeesten, plural of wildebeest (modern wildebees, plural wildebeeste).

Noun

wildebeesten

1. (rare) plural of wildebeest
   • 1905, Reginald Fenton, Peculiar People in a Pleasant Land: A South African Narrative, pages 107 and 157:

     The wildebeesten were scarce just there; appearing only by twos and threes; with now and then a solitary bull who, after pawing the grass and grunting distant defiance, […] When first they started off he burst into song, no doubt a hymn to his own prowess—an epic upon the fate of wildebeesten he had slain in the past or a challenge to the one he hoped to get the range of that day. […] As one ostrich to a farmer is worth a wilderness of wildebeesten, it was something to get sore over.

   • 1900, Guy Cadogan Rothery, ABC of Heraldry, pages 286 and 329:

     […] 2nd, or, two black wildebeesten in full course at random proper; […] introduced into heraldry from the colonies, such as the moose and reindeer from Canada, the wildebeesten and oryx from South Africa.

   • 1910, Arms, H.M. Stationery Office, page 40:

     Azure in front of Mountains and on a Plain two Black Wildebeesten in full course at random all proper.

   • 1917, Finance Accounts (including Trust, Housing Loan and Village Water Supply Accounts), Teachers’ Pension and Provident Funds Accounts and Appropriation Accounts, with the Provincial Auditor’s Reports Thereon, Natal, Audit Office, page 18:

     Licences to shoot 15 wildebeesten were challenged on audit as the fees, amounting to £7 10s. had not been accounted for.

   • 1933, W[illiam] J[ohn] Gordon, V[incent] Wheeler-Holohan, A Manual of Flags, Incorporating Flags of the World, pages 62–63:

     The second is gold, and thereon are two black wildebeesten at full gallop. […] Thus, the Cape of Good Hope has the first quarter, Natal has the wildebeesten, the Orange Free State the orange tree, and the Transvaal the trek waggon.

   • 1964, Philip J. R. Moyes, Bomber Squadrons of the R.A.F. and Their Aircraft, London: MacDonald, page 216, column 1:

     The badge is one of the two wildebeesten in the armorial bearings of the Province of Natal.

   • 1987, Natalia, Natal Society, page 116:

     The game all gathered at a pool / The matter to discuss, / The Rhino shook his horn and cried / ‘Why all this blasted fuss?’ / The Wildebeesten groaned aloud / ‘Oh Lord! Twas ever thus!’

   • 1993, F G Brownell, National and Provincial Symbols and Flora and Fauna Emblems of the Republic of South Africa, →ISBN, page 14, column 2:

     […] Second Quarter Or two Wildebeesten in full course at random both proper […]

Dutch

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Noun

wildebeesten

1. plural of wildebeest