"Another fence, known as `chock and log,' is composed of long logs, resting on piles of chocks, or short blocks of wood."
1890. `The Argus.' Sept. 20, p. 13, col. 5:
"And to finish the Riverine picture, there comes a herd of kangaroos disturbed from their feeding-ground, leaping through the air, bounding over the wire and `chock-and-log' fences like so many india-rubber automatons."
<hw>Choeropus</hw>, <i>n</i>. the scientific name for the genus of Australian marsupial animals with only one known species, called the <i>Pigfooted-Bandicoot</i> (q.v.), and see <i>Bandicoot</i>. (Grk. <i>choiros</i>, a pig, and <i>pous</i>, foot.) The animal is about the size of a rabbit, and is confined to the inland parts of Australia.
<hw>Christmas</hw>, <i>n</i>. and <i>adj</i>. As Christmas falls in Australasia at Midsummer, it has different characteristics from those in England, and the word has therefore a different connotation.
1852. Mrs. Meredith, `My Home in Tasmania,' p. 184:
"Sheep-shearing in November, hot midsummer weather at Christmas, the bed of a river the driest walk, and corn harvest in February, were things strangely at variance with my Old-World notions."
1896. H. Lawson, `When the World was Wide,' p. 164:
"One Christmas time when months of drought
Had parched the western creeks,
The bush-fires started in the north
And travelled south for weeks."
<hw>Christmas-bush</hw>, <i>n</i>. an Australian tree, <i>Ceratopetalum gummiferum</i>, Smith, <i>N.O. Saxifrageae</i>. Called also <i>Christmas-tree</i> (q.v.), and <i>Officer-bush</i>.
1888. Mrs. McCann, `Poetical Works,' p. 226:
"Gorgeous tints adorn the Christmas bush with a crimson blush."
<hw>Christmas-tree</hw>, <i>n</i>. In Australia, it is the same as <i>Christmas-bush</i> (q.v.). In New Zealand, it is <i>Metrosideros tomentosa</i>, Banks, <i>N.O. Myrtaceae</i>; Maori name, <i>Pohutukawa</i> (q.v.).
1867. F. Hochstetter, `New Zealand,' p. 240:
"Some few scattered Pohutukaua trees (<i>Metrosideros tomentosa</i>), the last remains of the beautiful vegetation … About Christmas these trees are full of charming purple blossoms; the settler decorates his church and dwelling with its lovely branches, and calls the tree `Christmas-tree'! "
1888. D. Macdonald, `Gum Boughs,' p. 186:
"The Christmas-tree is in a sense the counterpart of the holly of the home countries. As the scarlet berry gives its ruddy colour to Christmas decorations in `the old country,' so here the creamy blossoms of the Christmas-tree are the only shrub flowers that survive the blaze of midsummer."
1889. E. H. and S. Featon, `New Zealand Flora,' p. 163:
"The Pohutukawa blossoms in December, when its profusion of elegant crimson-tasselled flowers imparts a beauty to the rugged coast-line and sheltered bays which may fairly be called enchanting. To the settlers it is known as the `Christmas-tree,' and sprays of its foliage and flowers are used to decorate churches and dwellings during the festive Christmastide. To the Maoris this tree must possess a weird significance, since it is related in their traditions that at the extreme end of New Zealand there grows a Pohutukawa from which a root descends to the beach below. The spirits of the dead are supposed to descend by this to an opening, which is said to be the entrance to `Te Reinga.'"
<hw>Chucky-chucky</hw>, <i>n</i>. aboriginal Australian name for a berry; in Australia and New Zealand, the fruit of species of <i>Gaultheria</i>. See <i>Wax Cluster</i>.
1885. R. M. Praed, `Australian Life,' p. 146:
"To gather chucky-chuckies—as the blacks name that most delicious of native berries."
1891. T. H. Potts, `Out in the Open,' `New Zealand Country Journal,' vol. xv. p. 198:
"When out of breath, hot and thirsty, how one longed for a handful of chuckie-chucks. In their season how good we used to think these fruits of the <i>gaultheria</i>, or rather its thickened calyx. A few handfuls were excellent in quenching one's thirst, and so plentifully did the plant abound that quantities could soon be gathered. In these rude and simple days, when housekeepers in the hills tried to convert carrots and beet-root into apricot and damson preserves, these notable women sometimes encouraged children to collect sufficient chuckie-chucks to make preserve. The result was a jam of a sweet mawkish flavour that gave some idea of a whiff caught in passing a hair-dresser's shop."
<hw>Chum</hw>, <i>n</i>. See <i>New Chum</i>.
<hw>Chy-ack</hw>, <i>v</i>. simply a variation of the English slang verb, <i>to cheek</i>.
1874. Garnet Walch, `Adamanta,' Act ii. sc. ii. p. 27:
"I've learnt to chi-ike peelers."
[Here the Australian pronunciation is also caught. Barere and Leland give "chi-iked (tailors), chaffed unmercifully," but without explanation.]
1878. `The Australian,' vol. i. p. 742 :
"The circle of frivolous youths who were yelping at and chy-acking him."
1894. E. W. Hornung, `Boss of Taroomba,' p. 5:
"It's our way up here, you know, to chi-ak each other and our visitors too."
<hw>Cicada</hw>, <i>n</i>. an insect. See <i>Locust</i>.
1895. G. Metcalfe, `Australian Zoology,' p. 62:
"The Cicada is often erroneously called a locust. … It is remarkable for the loud song, or chirruping whirr, of the males in the heat of summer; numbers of them on the hottest days produce an almost deafening sound."
<hw>Cider-Tree</hw>, or </hw>Cider-Gum, <i>n</i>. name given in Tasmania to <i>Eucalyptus gunnii</i>, Hook., <i>N.O. Myrtaceae</i>. See <i>Gum</i>.
1830. Ross, `Hobart Town Almanack,' p. 119:
"Specimens of that species of eucalyptus called the cider-tree, from its exuding a quantity of saccharine liquid resembling molasses. … When allowed to remain some time and to ferment, it settles into a coarse sort of wine or cider, rather intoxicating if drank to any excess."
<hw>City</hw>, <i>n</i>. In Great Britain and Ireland the word City denotes "a considerable town that has been, (a) an episcopal seat, (b) a royal burgh, or (c) created to the dignity, like Birmingham, Dundee, and Belfast, by a royal patent. In the United States and Canada, a municipality of the first class, governed by a mayor and aldermen, and created by charter." (`Standard.') In Victoria, by section ix. of the Local Government Act, 1890, 54 Victoria, No. 1112, the Governor-in-Council may make orders, #12:
"To declare any borough, including the city of Melbourne and the town of Geelong, having in the year preceding such declaration a gross revenue of not less than twenty thousand pounds, a city."
<hw>Claim</hw>, <i>n</i>. in mining, a piece of land appropriated for mining purposes: then the mine itself. The word is also used in the United States. See also <i>Reward-claim</i> and <i>Prospecting-claim</i>.
1858. T. McCombie, `History of Victoria,' c. xiv. p. 213:
"A family named Cavanagh … entered a half-worked claim."
1863. H. Fawcett, `Political Economy,' pt. iii. c. vi. p. 359 (`O.E.D.'):
"The claim upon which he purchases permission to dig."
1887. H. H. Hayter, `Christmas Adventure,' p. 3:
"I