Austral English Part 182

"To nugget: in Australian slang, to appropriate your neighbours' unbranded calves."

Ibid. c. xviii. p. 182:

"If he does steal a calf now and then, I know several squatters who are given to nuggeting."

Nuggety, adj. applied to a horse or a man.

Short, thick-set and strong. See G. W. Rusden's note under Nugget.

1896. Private Letter, March 2:

"Nuggety is used in the same sense as Bullocky (q.v.), but with a slight difference of meaning, what we should say `compact.' Bullocky has rather a sense of over-strength inducing an awkwardness of movement.

Nuggety does not include the last suggestion."

Nulla-nulla, n. (spellings various) aboriginal name. A battle club of the aborigines in Australia.

1839. T. L. Mitch.e.l.l, `Three Expeditions into the Interior of Eastern Australia,' vol. i. p. 71:

"He then threw a club, or nulla-nulla, to the foot of the tree."

1853. C. Harpur, `Creek of the Four Graves':

"Under the crushing stroke Of huge clubbed nulla-nullas."

1873. J. B. Stephens, `Black Gin,' p. 61:

"Lay aside thy nullah-nullahs Is there war betwixt us two?"

1885. R. M. Praed, `Australian Life,' p. 9:

"The blacks ... battered in his skull with a nulla-nulla."

1888. D. Macdonald, `Gum Boughs,' p. 11:

"They would find fit weapons for ghastly warriors in the long white shank-bones gleaming through the gra.s.s--appropriate gnulla-gnullas and boomerangs."

1889. P. Beveridge, `Aborigines of Victoria and Riverina,'

p. 67:

"The nulla-nulla is another bludgeon which bears a distinctive character ... merely a round piece of wood, three feet long and two and a half inches thick, brought to a blunt point at the end. The mallee is the wood from which it is generally made."

1890. C. Lumholtz, `Among Cannibals,' p. 72:

"I frequently saw another weapon, the `nolla-nolla' or club, the warlike weapon of the Australian native most commonly in use. It is a piece of hard and heavy wood sharpened to a point at both ends. One end is thick and tapers gradually to the other end, which is made rough in order to give the hand a more secure hold; in using he weapon the heavy end is thrown back before it is hurled."

1892. J. Fraser, `Aborigines of New South Wales,' p. 73:

"One of the simplest of Australian clubs, the `nulla-nulla'

resembles the root of a gra.s.s-tree in the shape of its head ... in shape something like a child's wicker-rattle."

Nut, n. (1) Slang. Explained in quotation.

1882. A. J. Boyd, `Old Colonials,' p. 60:

"The peculiar type of the Australian native (I do not mean the aboriginal blackfellow, but the Australian white), which has received the significant sobriquet of `The Nut,' may be met with to all parts of Australia, but more particularly ...

in far-off inland bush townships... . What is a Nut? ...

Imagine a long, lank, lantern jawed, whiskerless, colonial youth ... generally nineteen years of age, with a smooth face, dest.i.tute of all semblance of a crop of `gra.s.s,' as he calls it in his vernacular."

(2) Dare-devil, etc. "Tommy the Nut" was the alias of the prisoner who, according to the story, was first described as "a-larrikin," by Sergeant Dalton. See Larrikin.

Nut, Bonduc, n. See Bonduc Nut.

Nut, Burraw.a.n.g, n. See Burraw.a.n.g.

Nut, Candle, n. See Candle-nut.

Nut, Nicker, n. See Bonduc Nut.

Nut, Queensland, n. See Queensland Nut.

Nut, Union, n. See Union Nut.

Nut-Gra.s.s, n. an Australian plant, Cyperus rotundus, Linn., N.O. Cyperaceae. The specific and the vernacular name both refer to the round tubers of the plant; it is also called Erriakura (q.v.).

Nutmeg, Queensland, n. See Queensland Nutmeg.

Nut-Palm, n. a tree, Cycas media, R. Br., N.O. Cycadeae.

1889. J. H. Maiden, `Useful Native Plants,' p. 21:

"Nut-Palm. Employed by the aborigines as food. An excellent farina is obtained from it."

O

Oak, n. The Oak of the Northern Hemisphere (Quercus) is not found among the indigenous trees of Australia; but the name Oak is applied there to the trees of the genus Casuarina (q.v.), and usually in the curious form of She-Oak (q.v.). The species have various appellations in various parts, such as Swamp-Oak, River-Oak, Bull-Oak, Desert-Oak; and even the word He-Oak is applied sometimes to the more imposing species of She-Oak, though it is not recognised by Maiden, whilst the word Native Oak is indiscriminately applied to them all.

The word Oak is further extended to a few trees, not Casuarinae, given below; and in New Zealand it is also applied to Matipo (q.v.) and t.i.toki, or Alectryon (q.v.).

The following table of the various trees receiving the name of Oak is compiled from J. H. Maiden's `Useful Native Plants'--

Bull-Oak-- Casuarina equisetifolia, Forst.; C. glauca, Sieb.

Forest-O.-- Casuarina equisetifolia, Forst.; C. suberosa; Otto and Diet.; C. torulosa, Ait.

Mountain-O.-- Queensland name for Casuarina torulosa, Ait.

River Black-O.-- Casuarina suberosa, Otto and Diet.