Words & TermsWork, bush and rural life
boomerang
An Australian throwing implement; also used figuratively for something that recoils on its originator.
In a sentence
The policy boomeranged and hurt the group that proposed it.
Where it came from
Boomerang was borrowed in the Sydney region from an Aboriginal language, though the precise source form is debated. English records begin around 1790, and the recoil figurative sense developed later.
- First recorded
- 1790
- Initial era
- Before 1800
- Where used
- Australian use; no narrower regional pattern established
- Use today
- Current; internationalised