jackaroo
Hello, you have come here looking for the meaning of the word jackaroo. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word jackaroo, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say jackaroo in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word jackaroo you have here. The definition of the word jackaroo will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition ofjackaroo, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.
English
Alternative forms
Etymology
Obscure. Possibly from an Aboriginal term meaning ‘wandering white man’.
Pronunciation
Audio (General Australian): (file)
Noun
jackaroo (plural jackaroos)
- (Australia, Queensland, obsolete) A white man living outside of a white settlement.
- (Australia) A trainee station manager or owner, working as a stockman or farm hand; formerly, a young man of independent means working at a station in a supernumerary capacity to gain experience.
- 1895, A. B. Paterson, Saltbush Bill: The Man from Snowy River and Other Verses, page 37:
- But this is the tale of a Jackaroo that came from a foreign strand, / And the fight that he fought with Saltbush Bill, the King of the Overland.
- 1964, Russel Braddock Ward, The Penguin Book of Australian Ballads, page 86:
- A Jackeroo lived, as a kind of gentleman apprentice, in the squatter′s or manager′s homestead, not in the men′s huts; but most of his daily work was done side by side with the working ‘hands’.
- 1974, The Pastoral Review, volume 84, page 611:
- Frequently the overseer would come to me and say a certain jackeroo was useless, and would never be any good, when the boy had only just started.
Coordinate terms
- jackarooesse
- jillaroo (“female jackaroo”)
- jilleroo
Verb
jackaroo (third-person singular simple present jackaroos, present participle jackarooing, simple past and past participle jackarooed)
- (intransitive) To work as a jackaroo.
- Bill has gone jackarooing out west.