Dictionary

brumby en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /ˈbɹʌmbi/
• (Australia) audio

Etymology

Unknown; perhaps from James Brumby, early Australian soldier and pastoralist, who is said to have left horses at his abandoned property.

Meanings

1. (Australia) A wild or feral horse.
   • "It could mean one of two things," he said. "Either that help is coming, or that a herd of wild brumbies is passing somewhere near." 1943, H. Lorna Bingham, The Lost Tribe, Sydney: Winn and Co., page 31, column 2:
   • He captures brumbies, the wild horses of the outback, running them down on motorcycles and shipping them to the city where they are butchered for pet food. 1967, December 22, Life, page 69:
   • If the latter situation prevails, brumbies can be developed into valuable stockhorses, either for use on the local property or for sale in other areas. Whatever the condition of a captured brumby, there is always the potential of selling it for pet food, fish bait, or even for human consumption. 1976, Tom Lee McKnight, Friendly Vermin: A Survey of Feral Livestock in Australia, page 17:
   • I'm too weak to ride. I'd have to ride, because for one thing the white-ants have eaten the wheels of my buckboard, and my one cart-horse has gone bush with the brumbies. 1938, Xavier Herbert, chapter VIII, in Capricornia, page 125:
   • Harry Farquharson said there were two or three springs and that the horses were “bloody wild”. He said there were probably about 300 and they were good horses, a long way above the average brumby. 1988, Tom Cole, Hell West and Crooked:

Forms

Deriveds

Brumby Plains

Relateds

mustang

Translations (2)

pl brumby (feral horse) · mi hōiho nāti (feral horse)