different between matilda vs shiralee

English

Alternative forms

• Matilda

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /m??t?ld?/

Etymology

Unknown.

Noun

matilda (plural matildas)

1. (Australia) A bundle of possessions, often tied up in a sack; a swag.
   • 1906, A. B. Paterson, On The Road to Gundagai, The Old Bush Songs, Gutenberg eBook #10493,

     In a week the spree was over and the cheque was all knocked down, / So we shouldered our “Matildas,” and we turned our backs on town, / And the girls they stood a nobbler as we sadly said “Good bye,” / And we tramped from Lazy Harry’s, not five miles from Gundagai;

Derived terms

• waltz Matilda

English

Etymology

From an unidentified Australian Aboriginal language. The term was used in the title of D'Arcy Niland?s 1955 novel The Shiralee (and two film adaptations, one in 1957 and another in 1987), though its meaning is no longer well known.

Noun

shiralee (plural shiralees)

1. (uncommon) Burden; load.
   1. (in particular, Australia, colloquial, dated) A type of swag that when rolled up resembles a leg of mutton, carried over the shoulder, usually with another load on the chest to balance it.
      • 2001, Filton Hebbard, Memories of Kalgoorlie: Tales from the Australian Outback, page 183,

        The bag of food like a shiralee across his shoulders, the water container stuffed into the looseness of his shirt, the compass, not required for awhile yet, in his side pocket, and the rifle balanced in his hand.

      • 2006, Pip Wilson, Faces in the Street: Louisa and Henry Lawson and the Castlereagh Street Push, page 8,

        “Nothin?. A prickly gecko, mate. He dropped off your shiralee.”

Synonyms

• (swag): matilda

References

Anagrams

• Aleshire