hielamann.
/ˈhiːləmən/ Brit. /ˈhiːləmən/, U.S. /ˈhiləmən/, Australian English /ˈhiːləmən/ Australia.
An Australian Aboriginal shield made of bark or wood.
ΘΚΠ
society > armed hostility > military equipment > armour > shield > [noun] > Australian Aboriginal
hielaman1839
1798 D. Collins Acct. Eng. Colony New S. Wales 612 E-lee-mong, shield made of bark.]
1839 T. L. Mitchell Three Exped. II. 349 There is much originality in the shield or hieleman of these people.
1848 H. W. Haygarth Recoll. Bush Life Austral. x. 113 The heeloman is a sort of shield, made of the toughest wood procurable, about three feet in length, and six inches in breadth at the centre, whence it gradually tapers off to a point at either extremity.
1852 G. C. Mundy Our Antipodes I. vii. 221 The hieleman, or shield, is a piece of wood, about two and a half feet long, tapering to the ends, with a bevilled face, not more than four inches wide at the broadest part.
1862 H. Kendall Poems & Songs 19 Yeelamans splinter and boomerangs clash.
1873 J. B. Stephens Black Gin 26 No faint far hearing of the waddies banging, Of club and heelaman together clanging.
Compounds
hielaman tree n. the Bats-wing Coral, Erythrina vespertilio, used to make hielamans.
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > particular plants > trees and shrubs > non-British trees or shrubs > [noun] > coral-tree
coral-tree1756
coxcomb1784
kaffir tree1792
Erythrina1865
karat-tree1868
hielaman tree1884
wiliwili1888
1884 A. Nilson Timber Trees New S. Wales 136 Heelaman tree.
1889 J. H. Maiden Useful Native Plants Austral. 426 Heilaman tree. The wood is soft, and used by the aborigines for making their ‘heilamans’ or shields.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1898; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1839