Blackbirding

noun, verb

noun, verb ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    The practice of kidnapping Pacific Islanders, or kanakas, for sale as cheap labour. Australia, New-Zealand, UK, uncountable

    "Burns Philp was to incur public odium in the most notorious case in Queensland concerning blackbirding."

Verb
  1. 1
    present participle and gerund of blackbird form-of, gerund, participle, present

Synonyms

All synonyms
merlmerleouzelcommon blackbirdcommon blackbirdeurasian blackbird

Example

More examples

"Burns Philp was to incur public odium in the most notorious case in Queensland concerning blackbirding."

Etymology

From blackbird + -ing, perhaps from the putative slang blackbird (“indigenous Pacific islander”).

Related phrases

pacific islander

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.