Phrase guide
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.
noun
An informal gossip network, especially in a rural area such as the outback; also, a component in the network (either a person or an imagined wire).
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: Australia, New-Zealand, countable, uncountable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: bush telegraph, grapevine, jungle telegraph
Antonyms: none provided
noun
A message or story transmitted through such an informal network, especially one containing false information.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: Australia, New-Zealand, countable, uncountable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: mulga
Antonyms: none provided
noun
A system for long-distance communication used by Aboriginal Australians, chiefly using smoke signals; also, a message or signal sent using such a system.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: Australia, countable, historical, uncountable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
History
From mulga (“any of a number of small acacia trees, especially Acacia aneura, forming dense scrub in dry inland areas of Australia; (by extension) the outback”) + wire (“telecommunication wire or cable”), possibly modelled after bush telegraph.
Across languages
5 source translations are retained for this English entry.
