kookaburra
Americannoun
noun
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Also called: laughing jackass. a large arboreal Australian kingfisher, Dacelo novaeguineae (or gigas ), with a cackling cry
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Also called: blue-winged kookaburra. a related smaller bird D. Leachii , of tropical Australia and New Guinea
Etymology
Origin of kookaburra
First recorded in 1885–90, kookaburra is from the Wiradjuri word gugubarra (imitative)
Vocabulary lists containing kookaburra
Australia and New Zealand - Introductory
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Australia and New Zealand - Middle School and High School
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Through a combination of green pitches and a Kookaburra ball offering greater assistance to seamers, spin has played a diminished role in Tests in Australia over the past decade.
From BBC • Jan. 1, 2026
However, lately a new version of the Kookaburra ball on sporty pitches has made movement just as valuable a weapon.
From BBC • Nov. 20, 2025
The Kookaburra ball feels different in the hand to the Dukes ball used in the UK.
From BBC • Nov. 17, 2025
Whereas this is the Dukes in England, Tests in India are played with a SG ball, while the Kookaburra is used in Australia.
From BBC • Jul. 18, 2025
I venture to think no latter-day Australian who has grown up with our Kookaburra can have any but the kindliest of feelings for this feathered comedian.
From An Australian Bird Book A Pocket Book for Field Use by Leach, John Albert
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
