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
This is why James Anderson was pensioned off, why performances in domestic cricket were largely ignored and why parts of the County Championship were turned into an experiment with the Kookaburra ball.
From BBC • Dec. 7, 2025
If that were not hard enough for batters, the new Kookaburra offers movement for longer.
From BBC • Nov. 26, 2025
The Kookaburra was even introduced to the County Championship to prepare English players for overseas assignments.
From BBC • Nov. 26, 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.
