ironbark
English
Alternative forms
- iron-bark (obsolete)
Etymology
From iron + bark.
Pronunciation
- (UK) IPA(key): /ˈʌɪənbɑːk/
Audio (AU) (file)
Noun
ironbark (plural ironbarks)
- (chiefly Australia) Any of several unrelated eucalypts that have dark, deeply furrowed bark. [from 18th c.]
- (chiefly Australia) The hard wood of these trees, as used in building and construction. [from 19th c.]
- 1901, “Progress in the Fruit Industry of Queensland”, in The Agricultural Journal and Mining Record, volume 4, page 16:
- The tents and sheets are made of the best Canadian duck, tanned for the purpose of preservation with a strong extract of iron-bark and wattle-bark.
- 1985, Peter Carey, Illywhacker, Faber and Faber 2003, p. 319:
- When he had trimmed a bit of ironbark to size, or knocked the worst splinters off a split fence post, he would swing it around his head a few times before crashing it down on the rails.
-