boomerang

Definition

Any of various traditional throwing sticks used for hunting or combat by Australian aborigines, including the symmetrical, crescent-shaped, type (the returning boomerang).

Etymology

Borrowed from Dharug bumariny.

Example Sentences

• "Some resemblance to terrestrial things, it is true, everyone can behold in the heavens. Corona, for example, is like a crown, or, as the Australian black fellows know, it is like a boomerang, and we can understand why they give it the name of that curious curved missile."
• "With boomerang and spear they hunted the kangaroo and emu, and fought their battles beneath the eucalyptus forests; their minds, fresh, untroubled, contented, oblivious alike of noble ideals and philosophic principles."
• "Before long, however, these pike-like devices were mostly superseded by spring-operated guns of various types. Most of them shot spinning disks, crosses, or small boomerangs of thin steel."

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