v. tr.
1) To cut the bark of a treeround the trunk so as to kill it. The word is common in thesame sense in English forestry and horticulture, and only seemsAustralasian from its more frequent use, owing to thewidespread practice of clearing the primeval forests andgenerally destroying trees. «Ringed» is the correct pastparticiple, but «rung» is now commonly used.
1846. J. L. Stokes, `Discoveries in Australia,' vol. i.c. x. p. 315:
«What they call ringing the trees; that is to say, they cutoff a large circular band of bark, which, destroying the trees,renders them easier to be felled.»
1862. H. C. Kendall, `Poems,' p. 56:
The gum-trees, ringed and ragged, from the mazy margins rise.»
1873. A. Trollope, `Australia and New Zealand,' c. xx. p. 312:
«Trees to be `rung.' The ringing of trees consists of cuttingthe bark through all round, so that the tree cease to suck upthe strength of the earth for its nutrition, and shall die.»
1883. E. M. Curr, `Recollections of Squatting in Victoria'(1841-1851), p. 81:
«Altogether, fences and tree-ringing have not improved thescene.»
1889. Cassell's `Picturesque Australasia,' vol. iv. p. 58:
«The trees are `rung,' that there may be more pasture for thesheep and cattle.»
2) To make cattle move in a circle. [Though specifically usedof cattle in Australia, the word has a similar use in Englandas in Tennyson's `Geraint and Enid'
. . . «My followers ring him round:
He sits unarmed.» – – Line 336.]
1874. W. H. Ranken, `Dominion of Australia,' c. vi. p. 111:
«They are generally `ringed,' that is, their galop is directedinto a circular course by the men surrounding them.»
1881. A. C. Grant, `Bush Life in Queensland,' vol. ii. p. 126:
«I'll tell you what, you'll have to ring them. Pass the wordround for all hands to follow one another in a circle, at alittle distance apart.»
3) To move round in a circle.
1884. Rolf Boldrewood, `Melbourne Memories,' p. 20:
«The cattle were uneasy and `ringed' all night.»
4) To make the top score at a shearing-shed.See Ringer.
1896. A. B. Paterson, `Man from Snowy River,' p. 136:
«The man that `rung' the Tubbo shed is not the ringer here.»