coolibah, n.
Forms:
18– coolabah, 18– coolibah, 18– coolibar, 18– coolybah, 19– coolybar, 19– koolabah, 19– koolibah. (Show Less)
Origin: A borrowing from Yuwaaliyaay. Etymon: Yuwaaliyaay gulabaa.
Etymology: < Yuwaaliyaay (northern New South Wales) gulabaa.
Any of several Australian gum trees; spec. Eucalyptus coolabah (sometimes included in E. microtheca), which has greyish-green leaves and fibrous bark, and is widespread near watercourses and seasonally inundated areas. Also coolibah tree.
1879 Queenslander 26 Apr. 531/3
We came to a coolibah forest..from this into a vile polygonum swamp, the worst I was ever in.
1887 Colonial & Indian Exhib., London 1886: Rep. Colonial Sections 428
Jinbul, or Coolibar, is a small tree, yielding wood of a reddish colour, close in texture, very hard, and heavy.
1903 A. B. Paterson Waltzing Matilda
Once a jolly Swagman camped by a Billabong, Under the shade of a Coolibah tree.
1930 A. Groom Merry Christmas v. 37
They halted beneath a great spreading coolabah tree.
1975 A. Ayckbourn Norman Conquests 41
Thick snow on the koolibah trees, koala bears rushing about in gum boots.
2003 Outside June 54/2
Cooper's Creek had permanent water in the billabongs and ample shade under the coolibahs.
1879—2003(Hide quotations)