lubra

American

[loo-bruh] / ˈlu brə /

noun

Australian: Offensive.

an Aboriginal girl or woman.

lubra British

/ ˈluːbrə /

noun

an Aboriginal woman

"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

Etymology

Origin of lubra

First recorded in 1840–50; probably from Aboriginal language of southeastern Tasmania lubərə

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.

Probably five minutes passed in this way, when an old lubra, on being directed in an undertone by her husband, took some fire and a few sticks, and, approaching the messenger, laid them close before him, and walked slowly away without addressing him.

From Project Gutenberg

The woman is also a good representative of the Victorian lubra.

From Project Gutenberg

Norman feasted her on cold roast bustard, chutney, tinned peaches jam; she became his lubra.

From Time Magazine Archive

Cf. itfaide toile, LL. 344c36. labor talkative 248; bat l. fri labra, bat tó fri tó, LL. 346a12. lán the full-tide 237. laxa f. inertness 212. lén sloth 243; tossach lubra lén, LL. 345b33. lethiu broader, wider 235. lia m. a stone, dat. liic 147. litánacht f. singing the litany, 14. lobra = lomrad a stripping 218; gen. lomartha, ib. luaithrind a pair of compasses, gen. lúd -e 118; fo chosmailius luaithrinde, Corm.

From Project Gutenberg

At one end was a knob of hardened gum from spinifex grass, and a long string made of the hair of a lubra was attached to it.

From Project Gutenberg

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023