Bushranging

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The act of committing theft or robbery, typically in rural settings, often involving a pursuit by law enforcement while residing within remote areas
2. Engaging in lawless activities, especially the stealing of property, usually seen in isolated geographical locales and historically associated with certain regions
3. The practice of carrying out theft or raids in countryside or wilderness locations, often involving evasion of authorities

Etymology: Bushranging is a plain compound: "bush" meaning uncleared countryside or wilderness, joined to "ranging," the act of roaming over an area. The word belongs to the Australian colonial record, where "bush" took on its particular sense of the untamed land beyond the settled districts. Ranging through that country was the work of men who took to the scrub and preyed on travellers, coaches, homesteads and the mail, and the compound names that activity directly: a bushranger is one who ranges the bush. Because the parts are so transparent, the word needs little more explanation. Its meaning rests on the colonial sense of "bush" rather than the older English sense of a shrub or thicket, and the combined term describes a whole way of life outside the law rather than any single act of theft.

Synonyms: highway robbery, banditry, outlawry, raiding, theft