Shiralee
noun, slang ·Uncommon ·College level
Definitions
- 1 Burden; load. uncommon
- 2 Burden; load.; 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. Australia, colloquial, dated, uncommon
"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^([sic]) yet, in his side pocket, and the rifle balanced in his hand."
Synonyms
All synonymsExample
More examples"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^([sic]) yet, in his side pocket, and the rifle balanced in his hand."
Etymology
First attested in print 1892. Later popularised through its use in the title of D'Arcy Niland′s 1955 novel The Shiralee (and two film adaptations, in 1957 and 1987)). Its meaning is no longer well known. Sometimes claimed to be from an (unidentified) Australian Aboriginal language. Alternatively, an anglicisation of Irish tiarálaí (“itinerant roustabout”) which came to be applied to his swag or matilda, and later (inspired by Niland's novel) to mean not only a physical burden but also a psychological one.
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.