Austral English Part 286
.
. answering to `well off,' `well to do,' `wealthy'; and ordinarily used, in Australia, instead of these expressions.
1891. Rolf Boldrewood, `A Sydney-side Saxon,' p. 1:
"He's a well-in squatter that took up runs or bought them cheap before free-selection, and land-boards, and rabbits, and all the other bothers that turn a chap's hair grey before his time."
, the part of the Continent first sighted in 1527 by a Portuguese, and the last to receive responsible government, in 1890. It had been made a Crown colony in 1829.
(q.v.). The word was coined to meet the necessities of the submarine cable regulations, which confine messages to words containing not more than ten letters.
1896. `The Studio,' Oct., p. 151:
"The latest example is the El Dorado of Western Australia, or as she is beginning to be more generally called `Westralia,'
a name originally invented by the necessity of the electric cable, which limits words to ten letters, or else charges double rate."
1896. `Nineteenth Century,' Nov., p. 711 [t.i.tle of article]:
"The Westralian Mining Boom."
.
1857. C. Hursthouse, `New Zealand,' vol. i. p. 123:
"The weta, a suspicious-looking, scorpion-like creature, apparently replete with `high concocted venom,' but perfectly harmless."
1863. S. Butler, `First Year in Canterbury Settlement,'
p. 141:
"One of the ugliest-looking creatures that I have ever seen.
It is called `Weta,' and is of tawny scorpion-like colour, with long antenna and great eyes, and nasty squashy-looking body, with (I think) six legs. It is a kind of animal which no one would wish to touch: if touched, it will bite sharply, some say venomously. It is very common but not often seen, and lives chiefly among dead wood and under stones."
1888. J. Adams, `On the Botany of Te Moehau,' `Transactions of New Zealand Inst.i.tute,' vol. xxi. art. ii. p. 41:
"Not a sound was heard in that lonely forest, except at long intervals the sharp noise produced by the weta."
, old Tasmanian term for wild cattle.
1891. James Fenton, `Bush Life in Tasmania Fifty Years Ago,'
p. 24:
"Round up a mob of the wildest W.F.'s that ever had their ears slit."
[Note]: "This was the brand on Mr. William Field's wild cattle."
(q.v.).
(q.v.); one who cruises about.
1893. `Sydney Morning Herald,' Aug. 12, p. 8. col. 8:
"The nomad, the `whaler,' it is who will find the new order hostile to his vested interest of doing nothing."
, Gunth., which is not confined to Australasia.
. Maori word for a house; a dissyllable, variously spelt, rhyming with `quarry.'
It is often quaintly joined with English words; e.g. a sod-whare, a cottage built with sods. In a Maori vocabulary, the following are given: whare-kingi, a castle; whare-karakia, a church; whare-here, the lock-up.
1820. `Grammar and Vocabulary of Language of New Zealand'
(Church Missionary Society), p. 225:
"Ware, s. a house, a covering."
1833. `Henry Williams' Journal: Carleton's Life,' p. 151:
"The Europeans who were near us in a raupo whare (rush house)."
1845. E. J. Wakefield, `Adventures in New Zealand,' vol. i.
p. 26:
"We were much amused at seeing the ware-puni, or sleeping- houses, of the natives. These are exceedingly low, and covered with earth, on which weeds very often grow. They resemble in shape and size a hot-bed with the gla.s.s off."
1852. G. C. Mundy, `Our Antipodes,' c. x. p. 265 (Third Edition, 1855):
"Sitting in the sun at the mouth of his warree, smoking his pipe."
1854. W. Golder, `Pigeons' Parliament,' [Notes] p. 76:
"I fell upon what I thought a good place on which to fix my warre, or bush-cottage."
1857. `Paul's Letters from Canterbury,' p. 89:
"Then pitch your tent, or run up a couple of gra.s.s warres somewhat bigger than dog-kennels."
1871. C. L. Money, `Knocking About in New Zealand,' p. 33:
"The old slab wharry."
Ibid. p. 132:
"The village was sacked and the wharries one after another set fire to and burnt.'"
1877. Anon., `Colonial Experiences or Incidents of Thirty-Four Years in New Zealand,' p. 87:
"In the roughest colonial whare there is generally one or more places fitted up called bunks."
1882. R. C. Barstow, `Transactions of the New Zealand Inst.i.tute,' vol. xv. art. liii. p. 428: