Boomerang

3 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Boomerang \Boom"er*ang\, n.
     A very singular missile weapon used by the natives of
     Australia and in some parts of India. It is usually a curved
     stick of hard wood, from twenty to thirty inches in length,
     from two to three inches wide, and half or three quarters of
     an inch thick. When thrown from the hand with a quick rotary


     motion, it describes very remarkable curves, according to the
     shape of the instrument and the manner of throwing it, often
     moving nearly horizontally a long distance, then curving
     upward to a considerable height, and finally taking a
     retrograde direction, so as to fall near the place from which
     it was thrown, or even far in the rear of it.
     [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  boomerang
       n 1: a curved piece of wood; when properly thrown will return to
            thrower [syn: {throwing stick}, {throw stick}]
       2: a miscalculation that recoils on its maker [syn: {backfire}]
       v : return to the initial position from where it came; like a
           boomerang

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  59 Moby Thesaurus words for "boomerang":
     Irish confetti, backfire, backlash, backlashing, bola, bolt,
     bounce, bounce back, bound, bound back, brickbat, cannon,
     cannon off, carom, comeback, contrecoup, counter, counterblast,
     counterblow, countermissile, counterstroke, exchange, fly back,
     give-and-take, have repercussions, interchange, kick, kick back,
     kickback, lash back, miscarry, missile, projectile, rebound,
     rebuff, recalcitrate, recalcitration, reciprocation, recoil,
     repercuss, repercussion, reply, repulse, resile, resilience,
     retaliation, retort, return, ricochet, rock, rocket, snap back,
     spring, spring back, stone, throw stick, throwing-stick, torpedo,
     waddy