Austral English Part 11

1875. `Proceedings of the Royal Society of Tasmania,'

September, p. 99 [`Port Davey in 1875,' by the Hon. James Reid Scott, M.L.C.]:

"The dwellings occupied by the piners when up the river are of the style known as `Badger-boxes,' in distinction from huts, which have perpendicular walls, while the Badger-box is like an inverted V in section. They are covered with bark, with a thatch of gra.s.s along the ridge, and are on an average about 14 x 10 feet at the ground, and 9 or 10 feet high."

Bail, n. "A framework for securing the head of a cow while she is milked." (`O.E.D.')

This word, marked in `O.E.D.' and other Dictionaries as Australian, is provincial English. In the `English Dialect Dictionary,' edited by Joseph Wright, Part I., the word is given as used in "Ireland, Northamptons.h.i.+re, Norfolk, Suffolk, Hamps.h.i.+re and New Zealand." It is also used in Ess.e.x.

1872. C. H. Eden, `My Wife and I in Queensland,' p. 83:

"In every milking yard is an apparatus for confining a cow's head called a `bail.' This consists of an upright standiron, five feet in height, let into a framework, and about six inches from it another fixed at the heel, the upper part working freely in a slit, in which are holes for a peg, so that when the peg is out and the movable standiron is thrown back, there is abundance of room for a cow's head and horns, but when closed, at which time the two standirons are parallel to each other and six inches apart, though her neck can work freely up and down, it is impossible for her to withdraw her head ..."

1874. W. M. B., `Narrative of Edward Crewe,' p. 225:

"The former bovine female was a brute to manage, whom it would have been impossible to milk without a `bail.' To what man or country the honour of this invention belongs, who can tell? It is in very general use in the Australian colonies; and my advice to any one troubled with a naughty cow, who kicks like fury during the process of milking, is to have a bail constructed in their cow-house."

Bail up, v. (1) To secure the head of a cow in a bail for milking.

(2) By transference, to stop travellers in the bush, used of bushrangers. The quotation, 1888, shows the method of transference. It then means generally, to stop. Like the similar verb, to stick up (q.v.), it is often used humorously of a demand for subscriptions, etc.

1844. Mrs. Chas. Meredith, `Notes and Sketches of New South Wales,' p. 132:

"The bushrangers ... walk quickly in, and `bail up,' i.e.

bind with cords, or otherwise secure, the male portion."

1847. Alex. Marjoribanks, `Travels in New South Wales,' p. 72:

"... there were eight or ten bullock-teams baled up by three mounted bushrangers. Being baled up is the colonial phrase for those who are attacked, who are afterwards all put together, and guarded by one of the party of the bushrangers when the others are plundering."

1855 W. Howitt, `Two Years in Victoria,' vol. ii. p. 309:

"So long as that is wrong, the whole community will be wrong,-- in colonial phrase, `bailed up' at the mercy of its own tenants."

1862. G. T. Lloyd, `Thirty-three Years in Tasmania and Victoria,'

p. 192:

"`Come, sir, immediately,' rejoined Murphy, rudely and insultingly pus.h.i.+ng the master; `bail up in that corner, and prepare to meet the death you have so long deserved.'"

1879. W. J. Barry, `Up and Down,' p. 112:

"She bailed me up and asked me if I was going to keep my promise and marry her."

1880. W. Senior, `Travel and Trout,' p. 36:

"His trouts.h.i.+p, having neglected to secure a line of retreat, was, in colonial parlance, `bailed up.'"

1880. G. Walch, `Victoria in 1880,' p.133:

"The Kelly gang ... bailed up some forty residents in the local public house."

1882. A. J. Boyd, `Old Colonials,' p. 76:

"Did I ever get stuck-up? Never by white men, though I have been bailed up by the n.i.g.g.e.rs."

1885. H. Finch-Hatton, `Advance Australia,' p. 105:

"A little further on the boar `bailed up' on the top of a ridge."

1888. Rolf Boldrewood, `Robbery under Arms,' p. 368:

"One of the young cows was a bit strange with me, so I had to shake a stick at her and sing out `Bail up' pretty rough before she'd put her head in. Aileen smiled something like her old self for a minute, and said, `That comes natural to you now, d.i.c.k, doesn't it ?' I stared for a bit and then burst out laughing.It was a rum go, wasn't it? The same talk for cows and Christians. That's how things get stuck into the talk in a new country. Some old hand like father, as had been a.s.signed to a dairy settler, and spent all his mornings in the cow-yard, had taken to the bush and tried his hand at sticking up people.

When they came near enough of course he'd pop out from behind a tree, with his old musket or pair of pistols, and when he wanted `em to stop, `Bail up, d-- yer,' would come a deal quicker and more natural-like to his tongue than `Stand.' So `bail up' it was from that day to this, and there'll have to be a deal of change in the ways of the colonies, and them as come from `em before anything else takes its place between the man that's got the arms and the man that's got the money."

Bailing-up Pen, n. place for fastening up cattle.

1889. R. M. Praed, `Romance of Station,' vol. i. c. ii.

[`Eng. Dial. Dict.']:

"Alec was proud of the stockyard and pointed out ... the superior construction of the `crush,' or branding lane, and the bailing-up pen."

Bald-Coot, n. a bird-name, Porphyrio melanotus, Temm.; Blue, P. bellus, Gould. The European bald-coot is Fulica atra.

Ballahoo, n. a name applied to the Garfish (q.v.) by Sydney fishermen. The word is West Indian, and is applied there to a fast-sailing schooner; also spelled Bullahoo and Ballahou.

Balloon-Vine n. Australian name for the common tropical weed, Cardiospermum halicacab.u.m, Linn., N.O. Sapindaceae: called also Heart-seed, Heart-pea, and Winter-cherry. It is a climbing plant, and has a heart-shaped scar on the seed.

Balsam of Copaiba Tree, n. The name is applied to the Australian tree, Geijera salicifolia, Schott, N.O. Rutaceae, because the bark has the odour of the drug of that name.

Bamboo-gra.s.s, n. an Australian cane-like gra.s.s, Glyceria ramigera, F. v. M. ; also called Cane Gra.s.s. Largely used for thatching purposes. Stock eat the young shoots freely.

Banana, n. There are three species native to Queensland, of which the fruit is said to be worthless--

Musa Banksii, F. v. M.

M. Hillii, F. v. M.

M. Fitzalani, F. v. M., N.O. Scitamineae.

The Bananas which are cultivated and form a staple export of Queensland are acclimatized varieties.

Banana-land, n. slang name for Queensland, where bananas grow in abundance.

Banana-lander, n. slang for a Queenslander (see above).

Banded Ant-eater, n. name given to a small terrestrial and ant-eating marsupial, Myrmecobius fasciatus, Waterh, found in West and South Australia. It is the only species of the genus, and is regarded as the most closely allied of all living marsupials to the extinct marsupials of the Mesozoic Age in Europe. It receives its name banded from the presence along the back of a well-marked series of dark transverse bands.

1871. G. Krefft, `Mammals of Australia':

"The Myrmecobius is common on the West Coast and in the interior of New South Wales and South Australia: the Murrumbidgee River may be taken as its most eastern boundary."