Fwd: "babalaas, n. and adj." - Word of the Day from the OED

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Sun Jan 1 13:16:02 CST 2012


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Your word for today is: babalaas, n. and adj.

babalaas, n. and adj.
Pronunciation: Brit. /ˈbabəlɑːs/,  U.S. /ˈbɑbəˌlɑs/,  S. Afr.
/ˈbabəlas/, /ˈbabəlɑːs/
Forms: α.   19– babalaas,   19– babalaaz,   19– babalas,   19–
babalaz,   19– baballas,   19– babbelaas,   19– babbelas,   19–
babbeljas,   19– babelaas,   19– bubblejus.  β.   19– babalazi.
Etymology: <  Afrikaans babalaas, babelaas (1940 as noun, 1950 as
adjective) <  Zulu -bhabhalazi, stem of ibhabhalazi hangover <
Afrikaans (chiefly colloquial) bibberasie fact of trembling, illness
characterized by tremor <  Dutch (colloquial) bibberatie fact of
trembling, delirium tremens (1871; also (nonstandard) bibberasie; <
bibberen to tremble (see bever v.2) + -atie -ation suffix); compare
Afrikaans bewerasie ‘fact of trembling, illness characterized by
tremor’, probably an alteration (after Afrikaans bewe <  Dutch beven
to tremble: see bive v.) of bibberasie. In β. forms directly <  Zulu
-bhabhalazi, stem of ibhabhalazi. Compare Xhosa ibhabhalaza.
 S. Afr. colloq.
 A. n.
  A hangover; (as mass noun) the symptoms of this.
1949  E. Partridge Dict. Underworld (at cited word), Babbeljas, a
hangover (after a debauch): South Africa. c.20.
1959  L. Longmore Dispossessed 218 Regular customers are usually given
a free drink on certain occasions in order to remove what is called
babalazi (dulling after-effects of carousal or drinking bout).
1973 Cape Herald 22 Sept. b1 The price of a bout at the Bacchanalian
altar is still the groggy head, unsteady hand, furred tongue, rubber
knees and the floating stomach—the age old ‘babbelas’.
1977 Sunday Times(S. Afr.) 1 May 7 You ‘dop’ too much, become
‘gerooked’ and have ‘babelaas’ next morning.
2007  J. D. Rhoades Safe & Sound xxiv. 178 Are you all right, fora?
You sound like you got a bit of a babalaas.
 B. adj.
  Suffering from a hangover, hung-over.
1969  A. Fugard Boesman & Lena 14 Look at you! Babalas!‥from yesterday's wine.
a1977  K. M. C. Motsisi in  M. Mutloatse Casey & Co. (1978) 74 You
keep that babalaas bek of yours shut before I bash it in with this
pot.
1990  P. Cullinan in  M. Leveson Firetalk 10 If I thought that a man
was too shaky, babelaas—hungover, I would point at him and say
‘Skokiaan’, meaning that he had been at the local firewater.
2006 Daily Tel. (Nexis) 21 Aug. 27, I went off and got smashed last
night; I'm feeling bloody babalaas.

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