yarraman
/ˈjarəmən
/noun (plural yarramans or yarramen) Australian
A horse: I can hear a yarraman, I reckon a mob of bush-bred yarramans...
- Many a time he'd proposed that his own people should adopt the yarraman, explaining how much easier their lives would be if they allowed yarraman to help them as did the white men.
- He needn't be frightened o' these yarramans. I got them like lambs.
- "Yarraman!" Anne exclaimed, fully alive to the importance of the information. "Do you mean white man's yarraman, Kombo?
Origin
Mid 19th century: probably from an Aboriginal language. The word was taken into the early Australian pidgin used by white settlers and Aborigines to communicate with each other; each believed that yarraman was the word for 'horse' in the other's language.