Boer

[bawr, bohr, boo r; Dutch boor]

noun

a South African of Dutch extraction.

adjective

of or relating to the Boers.

Origin of Boer

1825–35; < Afrikaans < Dutch: peasant, farmer. See boor

Can be confusedboar Boer boor bore

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for boers

Historical Examples of boers

But the Boers can't do no harm to you with their fists at all—it's playing.
The Manxman
Hall Caine
Among the Boers of the Transvaal a large number are friendly to the English.
The Last Voyage
Lady (Annie Allnutt) Brassey
That after all beats the record of the Boers, but they got complete independence.
Ireland as It Is
Robert John Buckley (AKA R.J.B.)
Such had been, such were sure to be, the tactics of the Boers.
Impressions of South Africa
James Bryce
This was the more necessary because the Boers were known to be intensely suspicious.
Impressions of South Africa
James Bryce

British Dictionary definitions for boers

Boer

noun, adjective

a descendant of any of the Dutch or Huguenot colonists who settled in South Africa, mainly in Cape Colony, the Orange Free State, and the Transvaal
(as modifier)a Boer farm

Word Origin for Boer

C19: from Dutch Boer; see boor

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for boers

Boer

"Dutch colonist in South Africa," 1824, from Dutch boer "farmer," from Middle Dutch, cognate with Old English gebur "dweller, farmer, peasant," and thus related to bower, German Bauer, and the final syllable of neighbor (see boor). Boer War (1899-1902) was technically the Second Boer War, there having been a brief preview 1880-1881.

boers in Culture

Boers

[(bohrz, bawrz, boorz)]

Dutch settlers in South Africa, also known as Afrikaners. The Boers were repeatedly driven further inland by British settlers; the British finally defeated them in the Boer War of 1899–1902. Boer is Dutch for “farmer.”