Words & TermsWork, bush and rural life
billy
Also: billycan, billy-can
A metal container used for boiling water, especially over a campfire.
In a sentence
We swung the billy over the fire and waited for it to boil.
Where it came from
The Australian bush sense probably developed from billycan, a light cooking pot or can. It became closely associated with campfire tea and itinerant life in the nineteenth century.
- Initial era
- 1800–1899
- Where used
- Australia-wide