bunyip

American  

[buhn-yip] / ˈbʌn jɪp /

noun

1. a mythical creature of Aboriginal legend said to inhabit water and watercourses.

2. an impostor.

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adjective

1. counterfeit; phony.

bunyip British  

/ ˈbʌnjɪp /

noun

1. a legendary monster said to inhabit swamps and lagoons of the Australian interior

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Etymology

Origin of bunyip

First recorded in 1840–50; from Wergaia (an Australian Aboriginal language of the Wimmera area, Victoria) banib

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

bunyip

The mysterious bunyip, the legendary beastie that lives at the bottom of the placid Australian billabong, is less strange to Australians than Herbert Vere Evatt.

From Time Magazine Archive

Together, as the seasons passed, we had looked forward to the shearing, the foot-rotting, and the lambing; and together we had watched the lagoon for the bunyip.

From Such Is Life by Joseph Furphy

Then there is the bunyip—or, rather, there isn’t the bunyip, so far as we know as yet.

From Peeps At Many Lands: Australia by Percy F. S. (Percy Frederick Seaton) Spence

“Big bunyip down ’mong a trees, try to eat Jimmy.

From Bunyip Land A Story of Adventure in New Guinea by Gordon Browne

“Then you and I will have to meet the bunyip, Joe,” said the doctor.

From Bunyip Land A Story of Adventure in New Guinea by Gordon Browne