Phrases & SayingsPeople and character
fit as a mallee bull
Also: as fit as a mallee bull
Exceptionally fit, strong and healthy.
In a sentence
After a month on the track, she came home fit as a mallee bull.
Where it came from
The comparison imagines the toughness needed by cattle in dry mallee country. Strong as a mallee bull is recorded in 1879; the place-word mallee comes from Woiwurrung and related languages.
- First recorded
- 1879
- Initial era
- 1850–1899
- Where used
- Australia-wide; imagery from mallee country