[f. BUSH sb.1 9 + MAN, app. orig. after Du. boschjesman applied by the Dutch colonists in S. Africa to the natives living in the ‘bush’; and since extended in application.]
1. A tribe of aborigines near the Cape of Good Hope. The Du. forms Bosjesman, Boschjesman, also occur as ethnic names.
1785. Sparrman, Voy. Cape G. Hope, I. v. 197. There is another species of Hottentots, who have got the name of Boshees-men, from dwelling in woody or mountainous places.
1824. Burchell, Trav., I. 64. For our mutual safety and defence … against the Bushmen.
1842. Prichard, Nat. Hist. Man, 513. Considering the Bushmen, or Bosjesmen, of South Africa as the most degraded and miserable of all nations.
1845. Foreign Quart. Rev., XXXIV. 421. Stunted representatives of humanity … under the name of Bushmen.
2. A dweller or traveller in the Australian ‘bush’; a bush-farmer; a station-hand; a teamster who carries stores to the stations.
1835. Sydney Herald, 5 Nov., 3/4. Wanted. A Chainman…. besides being a good Bushman.
1852. Blackw. Mag., LXXII. 522. Where the wild bushman eats his loathly fare.
1856. Tait’s Mag., XXIII. 742. An experienced bushman and well mounted.
1880. Chamb. Jrnl., 4 Dec., 774/2. The Point is alive with small crowds of Bushmen, as those who live in the interior are called by their brethren of the coast.
