bunyip

American  

[buhn-yip] / ˈbʌn yɪp /

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

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

For Jimmy was no coward so long as he was not called upon to encounter the familiar demons of his people, the word bunyip being perhaps too often in his mouth.

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

“Big bunyip down ’mong stones say, ‘Hoo! much hungry; where my boy?’

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

Got big fly in um head—big bunyip fly.

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

They returned both at odds, the one growling, the other calling his rival a bad bunyip dog, but both holding tightly by a large bird, Gyp having its head, Jimmy the legs.

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