white gum

American  

noun

1. any of various Australian eucalyptuses having a whitish bark.

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white gum British  

noun

1. any of various Australian eucalyptus trees with whitish bark

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Etymology

Origin of white gum

An Americanism dating back to 1735–45

Example Sentences

His upper lip curled back to reveal the white gum shield protecting a mouth sneering with contempt, Muhammad Ali stands over the prone body of Sonny Liston.

From The Guardian • Oct. 23, 2015

Found his camp and a white gum marked with a broad arrow, but no water.

From Explorations in Australia, Illustrated, by Forrest, John

The soil on Emu Plains was far superior to any we had seen since leaving the boat, and was lightly and picturesquely timbered with the white gum.

From Discoveries in Australia, Volume 2 Discoveries in Australia; with an Account of the Coasts and Rivers Explored and Surveyed During the Voyage of H.M.S. Beagle, in The Years 1837-38-39-40-41-42-43. By Command of the Lords Commissioners Of the Admiralty. Also a Narrative of Captain Owen Stanley's Visits To the Islands in the Arafura Sea by Stokes, John Lort

Through scrub, over rocks and gullies, and through weird white gum forest, and no sound but the laboured breathing of the bearers.

From Fifty-Two Stories For Girls by Miles, Alfred H. (Alfred Henry)

Conal's resting place was on a sunny hillside under a blossoming white gum in which the bees hummed drowsily in the spring time and through which the green parrots flashed all the year.

From The Pioneers by Prichard, Katharine Susannah