Definitions
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A new chum; a new arrival from England in the bush.
- To learn one's business by bush-farming: said of an inexperienced greenhorn in Australia who assumes the position and duties of a jackaroo before taking up a station of his own. See jackaroo, n.
Wiktionary
- n. Australia, Queensland, obsolete A white man living outside white settlement.
- n. Australia A trainee station manager or owner, working as a stockman or farm hand; formerly, a young man of independent means working at a station in a supernumerary capacity to gain experience.
- v. intransitive To work as a jackaroo.
GNU Webster's 1913
- Colloq., Australia A young man living as an apprentice on a sheep station, or otherwise engaged in acquainting himself with colonial life.
- v. Colloq., Australia To be a jackaroo; to pass one's time as a jackaroo.
Examples
“The prince has arrived for a three month stay in Australia where he will work as a Australian cowboy - known as a jackaroo - on remote cattle ranches in the Outback.”
“If there was anything humiliating in being rated as an 'able-bodied young man who wasn't worth his salt,' as a loafer who was hardly fit to 'jackaroo' on a station, as a 'lazy lubber' who would 'go to the dogs if it weren't for his father,' George never betrayed that he felt humiliated by so much as the twitching of an eyelid.”
“So he left, returned to Australia and, after a stint as a jackaroo, joined the Dominicans.”
“What the fuss about is the fact that, having gone out there to be a jackaroo, we're told, which is -- well, I'm not quite sure what a jackaroo is -- I don't know if you know, Larry -- but working on a ranch or a homestead in Australia.”
“Good stockmen were easy to come by, and Paddy had nine single men on his books in the old jackaroo barracks, so Stuart could be spared from the paddocks.”
“It had been sheer bad luck that in the end she preferred the Pommy jackaroo whose more bizarre exploits were becoming bush legend.”
“Wild as the birds in the sun-drenched trees, their children skulked shyly behind the sulky wheels or scuttled for the protection of the woodheap while their parents yarned over cups of tea, swapped tall stories and books, promised to pass on vague messages to Hoopiron Collins or Brumby Waters, and told the fantastic tale of the Pommy jackaroo on Gnarlunga.”
“The boys scattered to get horses, and the stockmen were piling out of the jackaroo barracks, while Mrs. Smith unlocked one of the storehouses and doled out hessian bags by the dozen.”
“All the other men made it back to Drogheda homestead ahead of the storm, turned their mounts into the stockyard and headed for either the big house or the jackaroo barracks.”
“The jackaroo just handed the tray and glass in through the partly opened door, had”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘jackaroo’.
-
Trusty Assistants
right-hand man, amanuensis, moonshee, man Friday, PDA, famulus, aide, lieutenant, deputy, Man Friday, girl Friday, reading-boy and 25 more...
-
Scrabble words which start with the l...
juvenile, juvenal, jutty, jute, jut, justness, justly, justle, justify, justice, juster, just and 534 more...
-
Friend or Foe
Also check out Reese Tee's Through Thick & Thin for more friend words.
comrade, netop, bro, bra, brah, girl, boy, dude, homie, dawg, best friend, BFF and 60 more...
-
Getting to Know Jack
jack-a-dandy, jack-in-the-box, jack-in-the-pulpit, jack-o-lantern, jack-of-all-trades, jack-tar, jack-up, jack a dandy, jack a lent, jack cheese, jack crevalle, jack frost and 26 more...
-
jack-of-all-trades
jack daniels, jack frost, jack russell, union jack, monterey jack, jack sprat, little jack horner, cracker jack, jack the ripper, jack rose, whiskey jack, jack rabbit and 69 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for jackaroo.
frogapplause My guess would have been sheilaroo, even though I understand the "Jack" and "Jill" connection. Sep 23, 2012
chelster Also spelled jackeroo, though jackaroo seems preferable given the etymology: Jack + kangaroo. Jul 19, 2010
bilby Female equivalent, which sounds unbearably whimsical to me, is jillaroo. Jan 5, 2008