boomerangs

Noun

boomerang (plural boomerangs)

1. Any of various traditional throwing sticks used for hunting or combat by Australian aborigines, including the symmetrical, crescent-shaped, type (the returning boomerang).
   • Some resemblance to terrestrial things, it is true, everyone can behold in the heavens. Corona, for example, is like a crown, or, as the Australian black fellows know, it is like a boomerang, and we can understand why they give it the name of that curious curved missile.1884, Andrew Lang, “Star Myths”, in Custom and Myth

   Synonyms:

   kylie

2. A flat curved airfoil that spins about an axis perpendicular to the direction of flight, originally used in various parts of the world as a hunting weapon or, in returnable types, for sports or training.
   • Before long, however, these pike-like devices were mostly superseded by spring-operated guns of various types. Most of them shot spinning disks, crosses, or small boomerangs of thin steel.1951, John Wyndham, The Day of the Triffids, Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, published 1954, page 43
3. A breakdancing move in which the performer walks on their hands while keeping the legs raised off the ground.
4. (Australian rules football) A boomerang kick.
5. A device for changing the color of a followspot.
   • Roll: A live action changing from one color to another. Typically requires dexterity to "crossfade" between two colors in the boomerang with one hand while following with the other.2013, Steven Louis Shelley, A Practical Guide to Stage Lighting
6. (RAF slang) The early return of an aircraft whose mission was aborted, often due to technical failures.
   • For quotations using this term, see Citations:boomerang.

See all 10 meanings of boomerang