bushranger

[ boosh-reyn-jer ]

noun
  1. a person who lives in the bush or woods.

  2. Australian.

    • a person who lives by robbing travelers and isolated homesteads in the bush.

    • a person who drives a hard, and sometimes dishonest, bargain.

Origin of bushranger

1
First recorded in 1810–20; bush1 + ranger

Other words from bushranger

  • bushranging, noun

Words Nearby bushranger

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use bushranger in a sentence

  • It's bad enough being compelled to turn thief and bushranger, but it would be worse if I was caught.

    Grif | B. L. (Benjamin Leopold) Farjeon
  • It was a dirty burgling business for a decent bushranger to lose his life in, now wasn't it?

    The Boss of Taroomba | E. W. Hornung
  • With no groan or word he fell; and when I reached the side of Smith there was not another bushranger left to battle with.

    The Gold Hunter's Adventures | William H. Thomes
  • I propped his back against some spare blankets, and heard the bushranger's story.

    The Gold Hunter's Adventures | William H. Thomes
  • Becky, the servant, had utterly collapsed at the word bushranger; the other two faces looked as if carved in stone.

British Dictionary definitions for bushranger

bushranger

/ (ˈbʊʃˌreɪndʒə) /


noun
  1. Australian history an escaped convict or robber living in the bush

  2. US a person who lives away from civilization; backwoodsman

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012