Austral English Part 78

1880. `Melbourne Argus,' July 22, p. 2, col. 3 (`O.E.D.'):

"The ten New Caledonia escapees ... are to be handed over to the French consul."

Eucalyn, n. a sugar obtained, together with laevulose, by fermentation of melitose (q.v.) with yeast, or by boiling it with dilute acids.

Eucalypt, n. shortened English form of Eucalyptus used especially in the plural, Eucalypts.

Eucalypti sounds pedantic.

1880. T. W. Nutt, `Palace of Industry,' p. 11:

"Stems of the soaring eucalypts that rise Four hundred friendly feet to glad the skies."

1887. J. F. Hogan, `The Irish in Australia,' p. 126:

"There is no unmixed good, it is said, on this mundane sphere, and the evil that has accompanied the extensive settlement of Gipps Land during recent years is to be found in the widespread destruction of the forests, resulting in a disturbance of the atmospheric conditions and the banishment of an ever-active agent in the preservation of health, for these eucalypts, or gum-trees, as they are generally called, possess the peculiar property of arresting fever-germs and poisonous exhalations.

They have been transplanted for this especial purpose to some of the malaria-infested districts of Europe and America, and with pronounced success. Australia, to which they are indigenous, has mercilessly hewn them down in the past, but is now repenting of its folly in that respect, and is replanting them at every seasonable opportunity."

1892. A. Sutherland, `Elementary Geography of British Colonies,' p. 270:

"Throughout the whole of Australia the prevailing trees are eucalypts, known generally as gum-trees on account of the gum which they secrete, and which may be seen standing like big translucent beads on their trunks and branches."

Eucalyptene, n. the name given by Cloez to a hydrocarbon obtained by subjecting Eucalyptol (q.v.) to dehydration by phosphorus pentoxide. The same name has also been given by other chemists to a hydrocarbon believed to occur in eucalyptus oil.

Eucalyptian, adj. playfully formed; not in common use.

1870. A. L. Gordon, `Bush Ballads,' p. 8:

"Gnarl'd, knotted trunks Eucalyptian Seemed carved, like weird columns Egyptian, With curious device--quaint inscription And hieroglyph strange."

Eucalyptic, adj. full of gumtrees.

1873. J. Brunton Stephens, `Black Gin, etc.,' p.6:

"This eucalyptic cloisterdom is anything but gay."

Eucalyptol, n. a volatile oil of camphor-like smell, extracted from the oil of Eucalyptus globulus, Labill., E. amygdalina, Labill., etc. Chemically identical with cineol, got from other sources.

Eucalyptus, n. the gum tree. There are 120 species, as set forth in Baron von Mueller's `Eucalyptographia, a Descriptive Atlas of the Eucalypts of Australia.' The name was first given in scientific Latin by the French botanist L'Heritier, in his Sertum Anglicum, published in 1788.

From the Greek 'eu, well, and kaluptein, to cover.

See quotation, 1848. N.O. Myrtaceae. The French now say Eucalyptus; earlier they called it l'acajou de la nouvelle Hollande. The Germans call it Schoenmutze.

See Gum.

1823. Sidney Smith, `Essays,' p. 440:

"A London thief, clothed in Kangaroo's skins, lodged under the bark of the dwarf eucalyptus, and keeping sheep, fourteen thousand miles from Piccadilly, with a crook bent into the shape of a picklock, is not an uninteresting picture."

1833. C. Sturt, `Southern Australia,' vol. i. c. ii. p. 80:

"A large basin in which there are stunted pines and eucalyptus scrub."

1848. W. Westgarth, `Australia Felix,' p. 132:

"The scientific term Eucalyptus has been derived from the Greek, in allusion to a lid or covering over the blossom, which falls off when the flower expands, exposing a four-celled capsule or seed-vessel."

1851. G. W. Rusden, `Moyarra,' canto i. p. 8:

"The eucalyptus on the hill Was silent challenge to his skill."

1879. `Temple Bar,' Oct., p. 23 ('0. E. D.'):

"The sombre eucalypti ... interspersed here and there by their dead companions."

1886. J. A. Froude, `Oceana,' p. 118:

"At intervals the bush remained untouched, but the universal eucalyptus, which I had expected to find grey and monotonous, was a Proteus it shape and colour, now branching like an oak or a cork tree, now feathered like a birch, or glowing like an arbutus with an endless variety of hue--green, orange, and brown."

1890. Rolf Boldrewood, `Miner's Right, c. v. p. 46:

"A lofty eucalyptus ... lay with its bared roots sheer athwart a tiny watercourse."

Euro, n. one of the aboriginal names for a Kangaroo (q.v.); spelt also Yuro.

1885. Mrs. Praed, `Head Station,' p. 192:

"Above and below ... were beetling cliffs, with ledges and crannies that afforded foothold only to yuros and rock-wallabies."

Exclusionist, n. and adj. See quotation.

1827. P. Cunningham, `Two Years in New South Wales,'

vol. ii. pp. 118-19:

"... one subdivision of the emigrant class alluded to, is termed the exclusionist party, from their strict exclusion of the emancipists from their society."

Exileism, n. a word of same period as Exiles (q.v.).

1893. A. P. Martin, `Life of Lord Sherbrooke,' vol. i. p. 381:

"A gentleman who was at this time engaged in pastoral pursuits in New South Wales, and was therefore a supporter of exileism.'"

Exiles, n. euphemistic name for convicts. It did not last long.

1847, A. P. Martin, `Life of Lord Sherbrooke' (1893), vol. i. p. 378:

"The cargoes of criminals were no longer to be known as `convicts,' but (such is the virtue in a name!) as `exiles.'

It was, as Earl Grey explained in his despatch of Sept 3, 1847, `a scheme of reformatory discipline.'"

1852. G. B. Earp, `Gold Colonies of Australia,' p. 100: