the bark of a tree
round the trunk so as to kill it. The word is common in the
same sense in English forestry and horticulture, and only seems
Australasian from its more frequent use, owing to the
widespread practice of clearing the primeval forests and
generally destroying trees. "Ringed" is the correct past
participle, but "rung" is now commonly used.

1846. J. L. Stokes, `Discoveries in Australia,' vol. i.
c. x. p. 315:

"What they call ringing the trees; that is to say, they cut
off a large circular band of bark, which, destroying the trees,
renders them easier to be felled."

1862. H. C. Kendall, `Poems,' p. 56:

The gum-trees, ringed and ragged, from the mazy margins rise."

1873. A. Trollope, `Australia and New Zealand,' c. xx. p. 312:

"Trees to be `rung.' The ringing of trees consists of cutting
the bark through all round, so that the tree cease to suck up
the strength of the earth for its nutrition, and shall die."

1883. E. M. Curr, `Recollections of Squatting in Victoria'
(1841-1851), p. 81:

"Altogether, fences and tree-ringing have not improved the
scene."

1889. Cassell's `Picturesque Australasia,' vol. iv. p. 58:

"The trees are `rung,' that there may be more pasture for the
sheep and cattle."

(2) To make cattle move in a circle. [Though specifically used
of cattle in Australia, the word has a similar use in England
as in Tennyson's `Geraint and Enid'

. . . "My followers ring him round:
He sits unarmed."--Line 336.]

1874. W. H. Ranken, `Dominion of Australia,' c. vi. p. 111:

"They are generally `ringed,' that is, their galop is directed
into a circular course by the men surrounding them."

1881. A. C. Grant, `Bush Life in Queensland,' vol. ii. p. 126:

"I'll tell you what, you'll have to ring them. Pass the word
round for all hands to follow one another in a circle, at a
little distance apart."

(3) To move round in a circle.

1884. Rolf Boldrewood, `Melbourne Memories,' p. 20:

"The cattle were uneasy and `ringed' all night."

(4) To make the top score at a shearing-shed.
See <i>Ringer</i>.

1896. A. B. Paterson, `Man from Snowy River,' p. 136:

"The man that `rung' the Tubbo shed is not the ringer here."

<hw>Ring-bark</hw>, <i>v. tr</i>. Same meaning as <i>Ring</i>
(1).

1888. D. Macdonald, `Gum Boughs,' p. 204:

"The selector in a timbered country, without troubling himself
about cause and effect, is aware that if he destroys the tree
the g