bullamacown.
/ˈbʊləməkaʊ/ 1. Cattle.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > mammals > group Ungulata (hoofed) > group Ruminantia (sheep, goats, cows, etc.) > bos taurus or ox > [noun] > oxen or cattle
rothereOE
neateOE
orfOE
erf1154
nowtsc1175
field beasta1382
nolt1437
cattle1555
neat cattle1619
chattel1627
beefc1706
horned cattle1781
cows1869
bullamacow1887
beeves-
1887 W. B. Churchward My Consulate in Samoa xxiii. 277 ‘Bulli-ma-cou’, applicable both to the meat and the animal... On the first animals being landed the natives..were told that the beasts they saw before them were a bull and a cow; so combining the two English words they made one of their own.
1927 Observer 6 Feb. 19/5 The Fijians had no words for bull or cow and now have only one portmanteau word, ‘bulumacau’.
2. Corned beef; bully beef.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > food > animals for food > preserved meat > [noun] > salted meat
Martinmas meatc1450
Martinmas beefc1475
powder beef1479
Martinmas flesh1656
Irish horse1748
bully1753
junk1762
salt junk1792
salt horse1836
red horse1864
hunter's beef1879
bullamacow1887
Jack1890
macon1939
1887 W. B. Churchward My Consulate in Samoa xxiii. 277 ‘Bulli-ma-cou’, applicable both to the meat and the animal.
1902 Westm. Gaz. 30 July 2/1 Their supper of rice and bullmacow [sic].
1925 Chambers's Jrnl. Feb. 87/2 If they wanted bullamacow..he would readily provide that food.
1952 A. Grimble Pattern of Islands 80 We never entertained one whose face brightened perceptibly when bullimacow and beetroot were placed before him.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1933; most recently modified version published online December 2020).
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n.1887