Austral English / A dictionary of Australasian words, phrases and usages with those aboriginal-Australian and Maori words which have become incorporated in the language, and the commoner scientific words that have had their origin in Australasia

by Edward Ellis Morris

<hw>Tait</hw>, <i>n</i>. a Western Australian animal, properly called the <i>Long-snouted Phalanger</i>, <i>Tarsipes rostratus</i>, the only species of its genus. See <i>Phalanger</i> and <i>Opossum</i>. It is about the size of a mouse, and lives almost entirely on honey, which it extracts from flowers.

1894. R. Lydekker, `Marsupialia,' p. 120:

"The Long-snouted Phalanger, which derives its scientific name from a certain resemblance of its hind feet to those of a Malayan Lemur-like animal known as the Tarsier, is one of the most interesting of the phalangers. . . . Known to the natives by the names of <i>Tait</i> and <i>Nulbenger</i>, it is, writes Gould, `generally found in all situations suited to its existence, from Swan River to King George's Sound.'"

<hw>Takahe</hw>, <i>n</i>. Maori name for an extinct New Zealand Rail, <i>Notornis mantelli</i>, Owen. See <i>Notornis</i>.

1889. Prof. Parker, 'Catalogue of New Zealand Exhibition,' p. 116:

"The Takahe is the rarest of existing native birds, if indeed it is not already extinct."

<hw>Takapu</hw>, <i>n</i>. Maori name for the bird <i>Dysporus serrator</i>, Banks, a <i>Gannet</i> (q.v.).

<hw>Take (a man) down</hw>, Australian sporting slang. (1) To induce a man to bet, knowing that he must lose. (2) To advise a man to bet, and then to "arrange" with an accomplice (a jockey, e.g.) for the bet to be lost. (3) To prove superior to a man in a game of skill.

1895. `The Argus,' Dec. 5, p. 5, col. 2:

"It appeared that [the plaintiff] had a particular fancy for a [certain] horse, and in an evil hour induced [the defendant] to lay him a wager about this animal at the long odds of two shillings to threepence. When the horse had romped triumphantly home and [the plaintiff] went to collect his two shillings [the defendant] accused him of having `taken him down,' stigmatised him as a thief and a robber, and further remarked that [the plaintiff] had the telegram announcing the result of the race in his pocket when the wager was made, and in short refused to give [the plaintiff] anything but a black eye."