bunyip

American  

[buhn-yip] / ˈbʌn yɪp /

noun

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

2. an impostor.

---

adjective

1. counterfeit; phony.

bunyip British  

/ ˈbʌnjɪp /

noun

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

---

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

“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 Browne, Gordon

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

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

“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