▪ I. berley Austral.
(ˈbɜːlɪ)
Also burley.
[Of unknown origin.]
Ground-bait.
| 1874 E. S. Hill in J. E. Tenison-Woods Fish & Fisheries of N.S.W. (1882) iii. 75 The bait should be crabs. It is usual to wrench legs and shell off the back, and cast them out for berley. 1896 Badminton Mag. Aug. 201 Sometimes adding bait chopped small to serve for what Australian fishermen call Berley. |
b. (See quots.)
| 1941 Baker Dict. Austral. Slang 15 Burley, humbug, nonsense. 1943 Ibid. (ed. 3) 9 Berley, nonsense, humbug; e.g. ‘a bit of berley’. |
▪ II. berley, -lik
obs. forms of barley.