S. African. [Du., f. voor- before + trekken TREK v.] One of the original Dutch emigrants into the Transvaal; a pioneer.
1875. Alton Weekly Telegraph, 3 June, 4/1. The pioneers of civilization who had settle there [the Vaal]—the ‘voortrekkers,’ as they are called.
1878. Aylward, Transvaal of To-day, i. 3. Mr. Oliphant,… in speaking of the Voortrekkers (advanced pioneers), says [etc.].
1883. Pall Mall G., 26 Nov., 2/1. To prevent a large and respected portion of the English people from ever doing justice to the Transvaal Voortrekkers.
1899. Rider Haggard, Swallow, Introd. § 2. Sympathy with the Voortrekkers of 1836 is easy.
attrib. 1895. J. G. Millais, Breath fr. Veldt (1899), 61. In those days the ‘voor-trekker’ Dutchmen shot them [the natives] down like rabbits.
1899. Fitzpatrick, Transvaal, 26. The active party among the Boers, i. e. the Voortrekker party, the most anti-British and Republican.
