dictionary definitions for "aboriginal"


From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]:

  Aboriginal
      adj 1: of or pertaining to members of the indigenous people of
             Australia; "an Aboriginal rite"
      2: characteristic of or relating to people inhabiting a region
         from the beginning; "native Americans"; "the aboriginal
         peoples of Australia" [syn: native, aboriginal] [ant:
         nonnative]
      3: having existed from the beginning; in an earliest or original
         stage or state; "aboriginal forests"; "primal eras before the
         appearance of life on earth"; "the forest primeval";
         "primordial matter"; "primordial forms of life" [syn:
         aboriginal, primal, primeval, primaeval,
         primordial]
      n 1: a dark-skinned member of a race of people living in
           Australia when Europeans arrived [syn: Aborigine, Abo,
           Aboriginal, native Australian, Australian Aborigine]
      2: an indigenous person who was born in a particular place; "the
         art of the natives of the northwest coast"; "the Canadian
         government scrapped plans to tax the grants to aboriginal
         college students" [syn: native, indigen, indigene,
         aborigine, aboriginal]

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

  Aboriginal \Ab`o*rig"i*nal\, a. [See Aborigines.]
     1. First; original; indigenous; primitive; native; as, the
        aboriginal tribes of America. "Mantled o'er with
        aboriginal turf." --Wordsworth.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. Of or pertaining to aborigines; as, a Hindu of aboriginal
        blood.
        [1913 Webster]

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

  Aboriginal \Ab`o*rig"i*nal\, n.
     1. An original inhabitant of any land; one of the aborigines.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. An animal or a plant native to the region.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              It may well be doubted whether this frog is an
              aboriginal of these islands.          --Darwin.
        [1913 Webster]


online dictionary by shmop.net