Fossick, in Australia and New Zealand, means to search for gold or gemstones by going over abandoned workings, or more generally, to search about or rummage.
Fossick, en Australia y Nueva Zelanda, significa buscar oro o gemas revisando trabajos abandonados, o en general, buscar o rebuscar.
| Front | fossick \FAH-sik\ |
|---|---|
| Back | verb 1 Australian & New Zealand To search for gold or gemstones typically by picking over abandoned workings. 2 chiefly Australian & New Zealand a) To search about; rummage. b) To search for by or as if by rummaging; ferret out. [The first people to "fossick" (in the oldest but still-current meaning of the word), back in the 1850s, were picking over abandoned mining excavations in search of gold or gemstones. But within a few decades "fossick" was being used more generally to mean "to search about" or "to rummage." "Fossick" was brought to the shores of Australia and New Zealand by immigrants from the United Kingdom. The word was originally an English dialect term meaning "to ferret out." That meaning is derived from older words: the first spelled "fussick," meaning "to bustle about," and the second "fossack" or "fussock," meaning "a troublesome person."] "As teenagers, the twins spent many summer afternoons fossicking for opals in the old mine." |
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