Dictionary

mulga en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• [ˈmɔʊlɡɐ] (Australia)
• /ˈmɐlɡə/ (Australia)
• /ˈmʌlɡə/ (General-American, Received-Pronunciation)
• (Australia) audio

Etymology

From Gamilaraay malga.

Meanings

1. (Australia) Any of a number of small acacia trees, especially Acacia aneura, forming dense scrub in dry inland areas of Australia.
   • There are several different types of mulga, and Anangu know the different food which comes from them. For example, insects make a thing like a small apple on the pakuta (horse mulga). This one is good to eat but there is another one on a different sort of mulga which is not edible. 1996, Lynn Baker, Mingkiri: A Natural history of Ulu−ru by the Mu−titjulu Community, page 26:
   • 1983, Queensland Department of Agriculture and Stock, The Queensland Journal of Agriculture and Animal Science, Volumes 40-42, page 68, This paper describes a preliminary field experiment designed to examine the effect of supplementing sheep fed mulga with several proprietary licks and a more comprehensive field experiment to evaluate the effect of the most promising lick fed with cottonseed meal.
   • Ford (1969) points out that it is distributed from southern Northern Territory and northern South Australia west through mulga country of the Gibson and Great Victoria Deserts to the coast of Western Australia. 1981, Joseph Michael Forshaw, William T. Cooper, Australian Parrots, page 246:
   • The return of mulgas, native grasses and other shrubs was finally giving wildlife researchers some hope that numerous animals on the endangered species list might yet be saved if their ecosystems could be restored. 2002, Brad Collis, Fields of Discovery: Australia′s CSIRO, Australia: CSIRO, page 15:
2. (Australia, qualifier:preceded by definite article) Any region where mulga is the predominant vegetation.
3. (Australia, colloquial, in-compounds) The outback.
   • I'd forgotten for a moment you are not all mulga-bred […] 1901, Jack Mathieu, “That Day at Boiling Downs”, in Australian Ballads & Short Stories, Penguin, published 2003, page 263:
4. Something made from the wood of a mulga tree.
5. (abbreviation, alt-of, ellipsis) Ellipsis of mulga wire (“a message or story transmitted through an informal gossip network, especially one containing false information”).
   alt of mulga wire

Forms

Deriveds

mulga apple · mulga wire · red mulga · mulga black · mulga madness · mulga snake

Relateds

spinifex

Translations (1)

fi keihäsakaasia (small acacia tree, especially Acacia aneura)