biddy-biddyn.
The New Zealand name for the troublesome burr of the piripiri. Also attributive.
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the world > plants > particular plants > plants and herbs > non-British plants or herbs > [noun] > Australasian > piri-piri plant or burr
biddy-biddy1866
piripiri1866
1866 G. Mueller My Dear Bannie (1958) iv. 110 We shall have..after that ‘bidy-bidy’ tea..without sugar.
1880 T. H. Potts in N.Z. Country Jrnl. XII. 195 Piri-piri (acaena sanguisorbe) by the settlers has been converted or corrupted into biddy-biddy.
1896 Otago Witness (Dunedin, N.Z.) 23 Jan. 36 Biddybids detract very materially from the value of the wool, and the plant should not be allowed to seed where sheep are depastured.
1944 D. Stewart in Coast to Coast 1943 96 Scrape them off like sand or bid-a-bid seeds.
1951 J. Frame Lagoon 19 Father shook the bidi-bids off the big red and grey rug.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1933; most recently modified version published online September 2021).
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n.1866