mallee

[ mal-ee ]

noun
  1. any of various dwarf Australian eucalyptuses, as Eucalyptus dumosa and E. oleosa, that sometimes form large tracts of brushwood.

  2. the brushwood itself.

Origin of mallee

1
First recorded in 1840–50; from Wergaia (an Australian Aboriginal language spoken in the Wimmera area, Victoria) mali

Words Nearby mallee

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use mallee in a sentence

  • The setting sun made a lane of light through the pines and mallee.

    The Boss of Taroomba | E. W. Hornung
  • One tract of the mallee scrub, shared between Victoria and South Australia, covers an area of nearly 9000 square miles.

    Australian Pictures | Howard Willoughby
  • The mallee is just high enough to render it impossible for a man on horseback to look over it.

    Australian Pictures | Howard Willoughby
  • The mallee (Eucalyptus dumosa) is one of the strangest products of a strange country.

    Australian Pictures | Howard Willoughby
  • No surface water is to be obtained in the mallee district; its silence is only disturbed by the melancholy wail of the dingo.

    Australian Pictures | Howard Willoughby

British Dictionary definitions for mallee

mallee

/ (ˈmæliː) /


noun
  1. any of several low shrubby eucalyptus trees that flourish in desert regions of Australia

  2. the mallee Australian informal another name for the bush 1 (def. 4)

Origin of mallee

1
C19: native Australian name

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