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Boomerang - 4 dictionary results
boo⋅mer⋅ang
[boo-muh-rang] 
–noun
| 1. | a bent or curved piece of tough wood used by the Australian Aborigines as a throwing club, one form of which can be thrown so as to return to the thrower. |
| 2. | something, as a scheme or argument, that does injury to the originator. |
| 3. | Theater.
|
–verb (used without object)
| 4. | to come back or return, as a boomerang. |
| 5. | to cause harm to the originator; backfire. |
Origin:
1820–30; < Dharuk būmariny
1820–30; < Dharuk būmariny
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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|
Link To Boomerang
| boo·mer·ang (bōō'mə-rāng') n.
To have the opposite effect from the one intended; backfire. [Dharuk bumariny.] Word History: The words we have borrowed from native languages of Australia, such as billabong, budgerigar, dingo, kangaroo, koala, kookaburra, waddy, and wallaby, generally have the exotic sound of down under, and boomerang is no exception. In a book about the languages of New South Wales published in 1790 is found the native term boo-mer-rit, glossed "the scimitar," because of the curved shape of the boomerang. In 1825 in a passage containing the first recorded instance of the English form boomerang we are told it is "a short crested weapon which the natives of Port Jackson [now part of Sydney] project with accurate aim into a rotary motion." In 1827 another commentator says that this term "may be retained for want of a more descriptive name." |
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Boomerang
Boom"er*ang\, n. A very singular missile weapon used by the natives of Australia and in some parts of India. It is usually a curved stick of hard wood, from twenty to thirty inches in length, from two to three inches wide, and half or three quarters of an inch thick. When thrown from the hand with a quick rotary motion, it describes very remarkable curves, according to the shape of the instrument and the manner of throwing it, often moving nearly horizontally a long distance, then curving upward to a considerable height, and finally taking a retrograde direction, so as to fall near the place from which it was thrown, or even far in the rear of it.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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Language Translation for : Boomerang
Spanish:
bumerán,
German:
der Bumerang,
Japanese:
ブーメラン
boomerang
1827, adapted from an extinct Aboriginal languages of New South Wales, Australia. Another variant, perhaps, was wo-mur-rang (1798). The verb is from 1880.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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