Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. Australian An imaginary monster inhabiting swamps and lagoons.
- n. Australian An imposter; a fake.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A fabulous animal supposed to inhabit water-holes and rivers.
- n. An impostor.
Wiktionary
Etymologies
- From Wathawurung ban-yib. (Wiktionary)
- Wemba-wemba (Aboriginal language of southeast Australia) banib. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“For Jimmy was no coward so long as he was not called upon to encounter the familiar demons of his people, the word bunyip being perhaps too often in his mouth.”
“The bunyip is a water-filled hose with marked rulers on either end.”
“Havock can you please shoot something and throw it to the bunyip?”
“Minyip (n) - A female bunyip, difficult to distinguish from her male counterpart, the Mickyip.”
“Minyip (n): A species of bunyip indigenous to northwest Victoria and northeastern South Australia, characterised by small relative size and a piercing, high-pitched mating call.”
“The scent of eucalyptus trees is strong, Australian animals wander about, the displaced Aboriginal spirit makes an appearance hopefully to play a larger role in the next novel and the bunyip plays his part in defending his home from otherworldly invaders.”
“The legends of the British isles are still present along with some inclusion of Australian folklore with the character of the bunyip.”
“But Ned merely acted out the worst fears of a bunyip aristocracy – laughed in their apoplectic faces, stole their horses and a few head of steers”
“It always makes me laugh to see republicans in the Federal Parliament, as half of them are there as part of a 'bunyip aristocracy', a kind of hereditary peerage.”
“While on the topic of early 80s HBO classics, we should include the scary bunyip from Dot and the Kangaroo.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘bunyip’.
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Mythical Beings
mermaid, manticore, fairy, brownie, dwarf, elf, leprechaun, selkie, gremlin, puck, pixie, genie and 97 more...
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Phantasmas
Ouroboros, chimera, incubus, cerberus, hippogriff, leviathan, centaur, Jabberwock, numen, snark, sphinx, hippocamp and 26 more...
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LEGENDARY CREATURES
but only the ones with adorable names
whangdoodle, teakettler, hidebehind, argopelter, splintercat, come-at-a-body, fibbertigibbet, harpy-hag, cactus cat, glawackus, manticore, hodag and 40 more...
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Monsters
The names aspects or categories of the twisted and terrible that we dredge up from our own minds.
draugr, nuckelavee, dullahan, cryptid, thunderbird, bunyip, kongamato, atmospherics, cloudbeast
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bkerr's Words
wyrd, absinthe, homunculus, zorkmid, informon, decider, diachronic, frak, hwæt, feldercarb, yawp, dogfooding and 540 more...
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ashton's Words
genocide, boingy, umwelt, zeitgeist, fungible, vorpal, spawn, discordian, fnord, surreptitious, xyzzy, corruption and 122 more...
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Fictional beasties
elf, gnome, dwarf, sprite, troll, fairy, nymph, imp, brownie, sasquatch, yeti, wookiee and 574 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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the gods must be crazy!
quetzalcoatl, baron-samedi, loa, orichas, arianrhod, aine, amaethon, annwn, arnemetia, balor, badbh, bean nighe and 1061 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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Words of the Day
glabella, chirotony, nook-shotten, crapehanger, filemot, swirlie, egosurf, lexiphanicism, Ruritanian, stichometry, chrononaut, faldstool and 2253 more...
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grassdog's Words
schadenfreude, sanguine, nefarious, verisimilitude, antediluvian, salacious, obfuscate, plethora, cacophony, defenestration, vacillate, blasphemy and 478 more...
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Words that are fun to say
stipple, carbuncle, dongle, exemplar, misbegotten, gigolo, salubrious, jupiter, propinquity, piglet, tobogganing, supercilious and 309 more...
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not the sum of their parts
words formed as the combination of two or more other words, but which have a meaning unrelated to either of the constituent words
earwig, ladyfinger, pantywaist, dovetail, eavesdropper, blackmail, greenhorn, mango, carpet, penny farthing, farthingale, damage and 118 more...
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hippietrail's Words
ginormous, résumé, bunyip, hela, ute, zelkova, tidal wave, pyramid, naïve, café, chocolate, wanker and 27 more...
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whigmaleeries
naumachy, skeesicks, barghest, catoblepas, bunyip, bellwether, gadabout, footle, aestival, brannigan, brabble, kilkenny cats and 6 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for bunyip.

reesetee See the last thumbnail image here. Oct 8, 2009
cryptofascistbbq NOUN:
Australian
An imaginary monster inhabiting swamps and lagoons.
An imposter; a fake.
ETYMOLOGY:
Wemba-wemba (Aboriginal language of southeast Australia) banib
Aug 20, 2009
bilby See špas. Feb 26, 2009