English Explanatory Dictionary

Belyando spew

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. An illness afflicting shearers, characterised by vomiting after meals and presumed to have been due to the hard work of shearing bent over in stifling heat (though more likely due to a local grass).

Word forms

Belyando spew

Etymology

Ultimately of Australian Aboriginal derivation; named for the Belyando River of central Queensland. The expression dates from no later 1891, from when it was in use in a shearer′s song.

Synonyms

Barcoo sickness Barcoo spew Barcoo vomit Burdekin vomit
This entry uses open data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA/GFDL). Word forms are used for search and are not indexed as separate pages.
Back to search All on B Russian dictionary Dahl dictionary