wallaby, n.
Forms:
Also wallabi(e, wallabee, walloby, whallabee. Pl. wallabies, † wallabys.(Show Less)
Etymology: < an Australian Aboriginal language: spelt wal-li-bah by D. Collins Acc. Eng. Colony New S. Wales 614, 1798. Morris suggests derivation from walla to leap.
1.
a. A kangaroo belonging to any of the small species of the genus Macropus, formerly grouped as the sub-genus Halmaturus, or of the genera Onychogale (‘Nail-tailed Wallaby’), Petrogale (‘Rock Wallaby’), Lagorchestes (‘Hare Wallaby’), Lagostrophus (‘Banded Wallaby’), Wallabia or Thylogale. All the species are confined to Australia and the neighbouring islands. The singular form is used in sporting language as collective plural.
1826 J. Atkinson Acc. State of Agric. & Grazing in New S. Wales ii. 24
The wallabee and padgy mellon..inhabit brushes, and afford good sport in the chase.
1827 P. Cunningham Two Years New S. Wales I. xvii. 310
The wallabee and paddymalla grow to about sixty pounds each.
1830 R. Dawson Present State Austral.
(1831)
iii. 111
A species of small kangaroo..which the natives call the ‘Walloby’.
1832 J. Bischoff Sketch Hist. Van Diemen's Land II. 28
The wallabee is not very common.
1843 J. E. Gray List Specimens Mammalia Brit. Mus. 89
The Whallabee. Halmaturus Ualabatus [etc.].
1845 J. O. Balfour Sketch New S. Wales 25
The wallaby, or rock kangaroo, is of a dark-grey colour [etc.].
1845 J. O. Balfour Sketch New S. Wales 25
The wallabys are to be seen only on the hottest days.
1846 J. L. Stokes Discov. Austral. I. ix. 267
The Wallaby are numerous on this part of the island [Tasmania].
1860 G. Bennett Gatherings of Naturalist in Austral. xiv. 286
A species of Wallaby Kangaroo was found about the rocky ranges at the Nepean.
1867 W. Richardson Tasmanian Poems 18
Go to the country a week to shoot wallaby.
1884 ‘R. Boldrewood’ Old Melbourne Mem. iii. 24
Violet was so fast that she could catch the brush kangaroo (the wallaby) within sight.
1893 R. C. Praed Outlaw & Lawmaker II. 35
The scared rock wallabies darted out of their holes.
1826—1893(Hide quotations)
b. pl. (With capital initial.) The name of the Australian international rugby football team.
1908 Daily Chron. 28 Sept. 4/6
The ‘Wallabies’, as the Australian football players..have christened themselves.
1945 S. J. Baker Austral. Lang. ix. 178
Just as New Zealand football representatives acquired the names All Blacks, Fernleaves, and Kiwis, so did Australian representatives become known as Kangaroos, Wallabies and Waratahs.
1975 Country Life 4 Dec. 1528/1
The Wallabies are about to play the first international of their tour against Scotland.
1908—1975(Hide quotations)
2. on the wallaby track, hence shortened on the wallaby: on tramp; wandering about on foot, whether in search of work or aimlessly as a vagrant.
1865 E. J. Overbury Wallaby Track in Stewart & Keesing Old Bush Songs
(1957)
233
There are others who stick during sheaving, Then shoulder their swags on their back; For the rest of the year they'll be steering On their well-beloved Wallaby Track.
1869 M. Clarke Peripatetic Philosopher 41
An old bush ditty, which I have heard sung when I was on the ‘Wallaby’.
1890 ‘R. Boldrewood’ Colonial Reformer ix
What is the meaning of ‘out on the wallaby’?..It's bush slang, sir, for men just as you or I might be now, looking for work or something to eat.
1890 ‘R. Boldrewood’ Colonial Reformer xxvii
He wanted a summer on the wallaby track to open his mind.
1896 R. Kipling Seven Seas 96
And some of us hunt on the Oil Coast, And some on—the Wallaby track.
1865—1896(Hide quotations)
Compounds
C1. attrib., as in wallaby skin, wallaby tail.
1852 G. C. Mundy Our Antipodes I. ii. 43
I found myself..swallowing with relish, a plate of wallabi-tail soup.
1890 Melbourne Argus 13 June 6/2
A wallaby-skin rug.
1852—1890(Hide quotations)
C2.
wallaby fence n. (also wallaby-proof fence) a fence intended to keep out wallabies.
1881 Gentleman's Mag. Jan. 56
A portion of this station was fenced with wallaby-proof fence—a high, close paling, reminding one of an English park.
1897 Outing 30 138/2
Down the wallaby fence..the emus turned at a hurricane gait.
1881—1897(Hide quotations)