buck

Dictionary of Australasian Words Phrases and Usages by Edward E. Morris

I.


v.

Used «intransitively of a horse, toleap vertically from the ground, drawing the feet together likea deer, and arching the back. Also transitively to buck off.» (`O.E.D.') Some say that this word is not Australian, but allthe early quotations of buck and cognate words areconnected with Australia. The word is now used freely in theUnited States; see quotation, 1882.

1870. E. B. Kennedy, `Four Years in Queensland,' p. 193:

«Having gained his seat by a nimble spring, I have seen a man(a Sydney native) so much at his ease, that while the horse hasbeen `bucking a hurricane,' to use a colonial expression, therider has been cutting up his tobacco and filling his pipe,while several feet in the air, nothing to front of himexcepting a small lock of the animal's mane (the head beingbetween its legs), and very little behind him, the stern beingdown; the horse either giving a turn to the air, or goingforward every buck.»

1881. A. C. Grant, `Bush Life in Queensland,' vol. i. p. 131:

«`Well,' said one, `that fellow went to market like a bird.'`Yes,' echoed another, `Bucked a blessed hurricane.' `Buck atown down,' cried a third. `Never seed a horse strip himselfquicker,' cried a fourth.»

1882. Baillie-Grohman, `Camps in the Rockies,' ch. iv. p. 102('Standard'):

«There are two ways, I understand, of sitting a bucking horse. . . one is `to follow the buck,' the other `to receive thebuck.'»

1885. H. Finch-Hatton, `Advance Australia,' p. 55:

«The performance is quite peculiar to Australian horses, and noone who has not seen them at it would believe the rapidcontortions of which they are capable. In bucking, a horsetucks his head right between his fore-legs, sometimes strikinghis jaw with his hind feet. The back meantime is arched like aboiled prawn's; and in this position the animal makes a seriesof tremendous bounds, sometimes forwards, sometimes sidewaysand backwards, keeping it up for several minutes at intervalsof a few seconds.»

II.

n.

See preceding verb.

1868. Lady Barker, `Station Life in New Zealand,' p. 224:

«I never saw such bucks and jumps into the air as she [themare] performed.»

1886. H. C. Kendall, `Poems,' p. 206:

«For, mark me, he can sit a buck

For hours and hours together;

And never horse has had the luck

To pitch him from the leather.»

Dictionary of Australasian Words Phrases and Usages by Edward E. Morris

← bubrush   ×   buck-jumper →

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