Dictionary

homeward bounder en · NOUN

Etymology

* homeward + bound + -er, in reference to the common phrase homeward bound.

Meanings

1. A vessel making a return trip to its home port or home country.
   • "I should suppose," he went on, "that she's a homeward-bounder; from India, say, now?" 1867, J. A. Maitland, chapter IX, in Captain Jack; Or, The Great Van Broek Property, volume II, London: Tinsley Brothers, page 115:
   • Ring on the homeward bounders, HMAS Sydney (CMDR Michael Van Balen) is coming home. 2003 August 28, Royal Australian Navy News, page 3column=1:
   • Here are outward bounders, and homeward bounders, apparently just about to run over each other in every direction[.] 1850 December 12, The Sydney Morning Herald, NSW, page 2, column 1:
   • In this way a fine homeward bounder, called the Junior, bound to Aberdeen from Callao, laden with a valuable cargo, caught the shore about eight or nine miles to the westward of Boulogne. 1853 August 24, The Maitland Mercury and Hunter River General Advertiser, NSW, page 3, column 1:
   • A homeward-bounder should certainly keep to the westward. 1874, Journal of the Royal United Service Institution, volume XVII, London, page 339:
2. A person making a return trip to their home country.
   • [advert] WANTED, to Sell to Homeward-bounders, a splendid King PARROT and Cedar CAGE, £2 10s. 1862 October 30, The Sydney Morning Herald, NSW, page 4, column 3:
   • I had bought a seventh of the Billy go Lightly from a homeward-bounder, paying £200 for it, and had seen my money back twice over, for though the reef was a tolerably hard one to work, it went well and was over a foot wide. 1880 December 23, The Telegraph and Shoalhaven Advertiser, NSW, page 2, column 4:
   • The Japanese were entirely responsible for the selection and accommodation of the homeward-bounders. 1946 February 19, The Sun News-Pictorial, Melbourne, page 10, column 1:
   • He now expressed his regret, and said he was a homeward-bounder, and was to be paid on April 23. 1870 July 6, The Wallaroo Times and Mining Journal, Port Wallaroo, SA, page 4, column 3:
3. A roughly executed stitch used when repairing articles of clothing on a vessel nearing the end of a long voyage.
   • Pete was in his dungarees with his ‘homeward bounder’ stitches over the many rents in great evidence, a coat, and, as usual, no shirt[.] 1973, Patsy Adam-Smith, chapter II, in The Barcoo Salute, Adelaide: Rigby, page 10:
   • [D]o you for one moment believe that the ‘homeward bounders’ in Mrs. Faul's needlework was the head and front of Mr. Flannery's offending? 1879 August 30, The Grenfell Record and Lachlan District Advertiser, NSW, page 4, column 1:
   • [S]he lifted a boot, drew up into the light an oilskin trouser-leg where it was patched — homeward bounders, every stitch of them — and said in a voice obdurate as flint, "Fifteen shillings." 1913 June 9, The Herald, Melbourne, page 1, column 2:
4. (Australia, obsolete) A goldmine which is highly productive, making the owners rich enough to abandon mining and return to their home country.
   • A rich hole is now known as a "homeward bounder," — a name expressive of pleasure to the winner of the prize, but of sinister significance to those who remain behind. 1859 April 29, The Geelong Advertiser, Victoria, page 2, column 2:
   • There is no longer any doubt but that many "homeward-bounder" claims exist on the rush, and that they are not confined to one part, but scattered in various directions. 1863 June 3, The Argus, Melbourne, page 3, column 6:
   • [B]ut to their agreeable astonishment they only opened out a drive, when within two feet of their shaft they came across a reef averaging from two to three feet thick, and, to judge from the sample of stone they have got out for the last few days, they have got a homeward-bounder (to use a colonial phrase). 1862 July 25, The Maryborough and Dunolly Advertiser, Victoria, page 4, column 5:
   • During the last week, I have endeavoured to ascertain if possible, the number of golden shafts that have been bottomed and up to the present time the very outside is forty (40), out of these, some thirteen (13) may styled "Jeweller's shops", or "homeward bounders", ten (10) first rate claims, and there remainder good payable ones. 1861 December 10, The Maitland Mercury and Hunter River General Advertiser, NSW, page 2, column 2:

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