galah

American  

[guh-lah] / gəˈlɑ /

noun

1. an Australian cockatoo, Kakatoe roseicapilla, having rose-colored underparts.

2. Australian. a fool.

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galah British  

/ ɡəˈlɑː /

noun

1. an Australian cockatoo, Kakatoe roseicapilla, having grey wings, back, and crest and a pink body

2. slang a fool or simpleton

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Etymology

Origin of galah

First recorded in 1885–90; from Yuwaalaraay (an Australian Aboriginal language spoken near Lightning Ridge, northern New South Wales) gilā

Example Sentences

The aging 8-meter statue, of a local species of cockatoo called the galah, marks a roughly midway point between the eastern and western coasts of Australia.

From New York Times • Mar. 7, 2018

Pink, for example on a galah cockatoo, can be due to weak absorption of all colors except red.

From Textbooks • Aug. 12, 2015

Raw prawn, to come the, v.: to delude or hoodwink a drongo or galah.

From Time Magazine Archive

They slaughtered a camel, and were fortunate to shoot a few pigeons and galah parrots, the fresh meat restoring a little of their strength.

From The Explorers of Australia and their Life-work by Favenc, Ernest

Compare also gali, to dig; tenggalam, to sink; tugal, to sow rice by putting seeds into holes made with a sharp stick; galah, a pole; gala-gala, pitch.

From A Manual of the Malay language With an Introductory Sketch of the Sanskrit Element in Malay by Maxwell, William Edward, Sir