white gum

American  

noun

1. any of various Australian eucalyptuses having a whitish bark.

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white gum British  

noun

1. any of various Australian eucalyptus trees with whitish bark

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Etymology

Origin of white gum

An Americanism dating back to 1735–45

Example Sentences

His upper lip curled back to reveal the white gum shield protecting a mouth sneering with contempt, Muhammad Ali stands over the prone body of Sonny Liston.

From The Guardian • Oct. 23, 2015

Lagoons wooded round generally with rusty gum, box, and white gum; wind east-south-east and pleasant.

From McKinlay's Journal of Exploration in the Interior of Australia by McKinlay, John

About two in the morning the downpour ceased, the sky cleared, and a fair half-moon of silvery brightness shone out above the tops of the white gum forest.

From "Five-Head" Creek; and Fish Drugging In The Pacific 1901 by Becke, Louis

The face of the country was well but not too closely covered with specimens of the red and white gum, and paperbark tree, and several others.

From Discoveries in Australia, Volume 1. With an Account of the Coasts and Rivers Explored and Surveyed During The Voyage of H.M.S. Beagle, in the Years 1837-38-39-40-41-42-43. By Command of the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty. Also a Narrative Of Captain Owen Stanley's Visits to the Islands in the Arafura Sea. by Stokes, John Lort

They were set solidly into a hard white gum, which had to be cut away all around them before they would come out.

From The Cruise of the Cachalot Round the World After Sperm Whales by Bullen, Frank T.