Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. Australian A dead-end channel extending from the main stream of a river.
- n. Australian A streambed filled with water only in the rainy season.
- n. Australian A stagnant pool or backwater.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. In Australia, a stream which flows away from the main stream (in some cases returning to it at a farther point); an effluent. Also billibong, billybong.
Wiktionary
- n. Australia A stagnant pool of water.
- n. A streambed that is only filled with water during the rainy season.
- n. A channel that dead-ends which extends from the main part of a river.
- n. An oxbow lake.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. In Australia, a blind channel leading out from a river; -- sometimes called an
anabranch . This is the sense of the word as used in the Public Works Department; but the term has also been locally applied to mere back-waters forming stagnant pools and to certain water channels arising from a source.
WordNet 3.0
- n. a branch of a river made by water flowing from the main stream only when the water level is high
- n. a stagnant pool of water in the bed of a stream that flows intermittently
Etymologies
- From Wiradhuri bilabang (Wiktionary)
- Wiradhuri (Aboriginal language of southeast Australia) bilabaŋ, watercourse filled only after rain. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“A fossicker is one who goes along the river banks panning for gold, and a billabong is a water-hole or washing place.”
“Police divers had been working their way through the billabong, which is about 25 metres wide at its widest point and around 800 metres long, at Kialla West, near Shepparton.”
“Keep her going! "and Billy kept her going to such purpose that by sun-up the billabong was a banker, Cheon was moving over the face of the earth with the buoyancy of a child's balloon, and Billy had five inches of rain to his credit.”
“At least tell us you were hit by a stray billabong and ended up in a coma, or you had a fight with a shark/croc/roo or something and you're only just able to hit the keys again.”
“Scientists have discovered three new species of Australian dinosaur discovered in a prehistoric billabong in Western Queensland.”
“Here they are with their little dog, rowing on the billabong, not far from the pretty homestead on the far shore.”
“The same rowing boat may be seen on the billabong to the left, this time carrying a party of five ladies, maybe some of Sophie Pearson's many younger sisters.”
“It would be the same thing, a white person and another white person on the ticket. billabong”
“I just finished a draft of a novel, working title, "Waltzing Mathilda" - and yes there is a ghost and a billabong involved!”
“If Hillary doesn't get the nomination, there is nothing preventing her from still running in the General Election in November, she just wouldn't be able to have the words "Democratic Party" by her name on the ballot. billabong”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘billabong’.
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Loanwords
Since English is littered with loanwords, everything could conceivably end up here. But there is a distinct feeling associated with these.. maybe they're young additions to the English language; I ...
iceberg, fjord, firth, abbey, abyss, anorak, apartheid, assassin, avalanche, avocado, balaclava, banana and 104 more...
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the earth
Planetary chaos: terrain, landscape and geology excluding rocks. (See "the geologist" list for the latter.)
butte, karst, caldera, mesa, laccolith, cwm, crater, alp, precipice, sierra, badlands, prairie and 122 more...
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sionnach's Words
contumely, fomite, holmgang, poltroon, eleemosynary, obsidian, nugatory, grindcore, felch, recrudescent, pyx, parenteral and 3271 more...
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Fun Words
Words that have funny meanings or are just fun to say.
kumquat, chimichanga, sarsparilla, rutabaga, rumpus, flummox, encrusted, prestidigitation, pomegranate, preposterous, dentiloquist, sepulchre and 323 more...
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learning
A list of words whose meanings I am learning, either because a) I don't know the meaning b) I know the meaning, but could stand to better appreciate certain inflections or secondary meanings or c) ...
louche, educe, loam, cob, sclerotic, palliate, axial, syndicalist, ecumenical, sally, fatuous, parvenu and 1387 more...
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Evin290's Words
puerile, fastidious, blatherskite, folderol, femtosecond, redox, incarnadine, cerulean, genuflection, muslin, multitudinous, miasma and 517 more...
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YO FAV WORDS HERE
solipsism, manticore, cameleopard, milquetoast, rapscallion, nostrum, lackadaisy, speakeasy, rumrunner, hydrophoby, dithyramb, avarice and 85 more...
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Tunie: And the Band Played Waltzing M...
I used to sing this as a lullaby to my spawn—till said spawn grew big enough to understand the words, and asked me to sing something else.
Written by Eric Bogle, c. 1971.
...billabong, ghosts, no one, fewer, the call, question, what are they mar..., forgotten war, forgotten, sore, stiff, bent and 66 more...
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limnolia
lakes, ponds, etc.
vernal pool, spring, pond, lake, pool, basin, swimming hole, lagoon, liman, well, oxbow, loch and 13 more...
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Tunie: Waltzing Matilda
Once a jolly swagman camped by a billabong
Under the shade of a coolibah tree
And he sang as he watched and waited till his billy boiled,
"Who'll come a-waltzing matilda with me?"ghost, troopers, thoroughbred, squatter, tucker bag, shoved, glee, jumbuck, matilda, waltzing matilda, billy, coolibah and 2 more...
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Australiana
quokka, wombat, numbat, bonzer, grouse, woop woop, not the full quid, zac, mate, koala, chunder, vegemite and 49 more...
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Australian Derivation ... or, you kno...
Words I heard there. Or from Australians.
didjeridoo, budgerigar, kangaroo, wombat, kookaburra, echidna, koala, dreamtime, matilda, waltzing matilda, billabong, coolibah and 44 more...
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fun things
defenestrate, smorgasbord, bodacious, internecine, surfeit, ecumenical, insouciance, oscillate, scintillate, puce, castrophony, semiautomagic and 54 more...
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Interesting ones
As a second language, thank you.
ergophobia, quoz, pope, wobble, logos, vertebrate, masterpiece, mu, billabong, mojo, merkin, milieu and 76 more...
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Fnnkybutt's list
Words I like to say
conflagration, locutorio (spanish), heebie jeebies, billabong, scranton
Tweets
Looking for tweets for billabong.
chained_bear An oxbow lake, river meander, or blind channel. Not a bad place to camp if you're waltzing matilda. Feb 6, 2007