shonky

en-adj

shonky (comparative shonkier, superlative shonkiest)

shonkier (comparative)
shonkiest (superlative)

From 1970s; possibly from dialectal English shonk (“smart”).

1986, Sociological Association of Australia and New Zealand, ANZJS: The Australian & New Zealand Journal of Sociology, Volume 22, page 475,
The argument gets even shonkier when they claim that the boundary between clerical and administrative work is difficult to define anyway, and that routinisation and fragmentation have affected lower and middle management too (pp. 95–6).

The committee heard much evidence that this is a farce, yet this government have continued to try to pretend that their forecast, based on the shonkiest of assumptions—their model, with the shonkiest of assumptions—is really what is going to happen.

2000, Australian Senate, Parliamentary Debates (Hansard), page 13548:

He might be a dole-bludger, a gambler and have the shonkiest tattoo in the world on his arm, but he'll agree to almost anything.

2002, Markus Zusak, The Messenger, page 158:

From no-brow beginnings, when BSG [Battlestar Galactica] still had to prove it had outwitted the shonky source material, the show gained cult respect and a few more viewers by the second year.

2008 April 15, Daniel Martin, “How will Battlestar Galactica end?”, in The Guardian:

That′s why it is infuriating that there are still so many sharks out there who are determined to rip men off with shonky treatments that simply don′t work.

2009, Bettina Arndt, The Sex Diaries, page 242:

Marred by shonky direction and factual errors, the film did nothing to enhance Kathner′s already poor reputation.

2010, Stephen Gaunson, “The Glenrowan Affair”, in Ben Goldsmith, Geoff Lealand, editors, Directory of World Cinema: Australia and New Zealand, page 98:

(Australia, New Zealand, UK, informal) Of poor or dubious quality, shoddy, unreliable; deviously dishonest, fraudulent.


trev

New Zealand slang sense: from characters named Trev in a television comedy of the 1970s. See Fred Dagg.

(New Zealand, slang) A farm assistant or other rural worker; an ordinary country bloke.


four by two

four by twos (plural)
four-by-two (alternative)

She would sit here sometimes, perched on a bag of concrete looking at the big lumps of four by two and imagining what she might do with them if she had a chance.

1994, Peter Carey, Collected Stories, page 206:

He eyed Norman, who was lifting one end of a four-by-two and sighting down it, as his Bendigo uncle had taught him to sight new beams, seeking out the bow.

2009, Joy Dettman, Pearl in a Cage, page 110:

I found myself in overalls, work boots, gloves and protective glasses splitting planks of four-by-two and stacking them on pallets.[…]From rock star to Rajah of the Radio (Paul Keating′s line) to the ARIA Hall of Fame to being John Farnham′s manager for twenty-five years to a convicted criminal splitting four-by-twos.

2010, Glenn Wheatley, Glenn Wheatley: Facing the Music, page 109:

(Australia, UK, New Zealand) A length of sawn wood of cross section 4 inches by 2 inches, most often employed as structural framing lumber / timber.


caravan

→ Dutch: caravan

→ Turkish: karavan

→ Japanese: キャラバン

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Naomi Persephone Amethyst (NaomiAmethyst)-caravan.wav

From Middle French caravane, from Old French carvane, from Persian کاروان (kârvân), from Middle Persian kʾlwʾn' (kārawān), from Old Persian 𐎣𐎠𐎼 (k-a-r), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ker- (“army”) (whence Old English here).
The word was used to designate a group of people who were travelling by camel or horse on the Silk Road. Doublet of Kairouan.

An Italian woman, twenty years of age, […] was travelling in a caravan with the baggage of the Duke of Wellington's army, in the middle of the night, in a violent storm, while she was fast asleep, a small monkey with a long chain upon the roof of the caravan took refuge in it […]

1825, Royal Society, Philosophical transactions of the Royal society of London : giving some accompt of the present undertakings, studies, and labours of the ingenious in many considerable parts of the world., volume 115, page 76:

The caravans were the demarcation between the non-radioactive areas and the radioactive areas. There were two main caravans, one for people going into the forward area, and the other caravan was for people returning.

2006, Roger Cross, Avon Hudson, Beyond Belief: The British Bomb Tests: Australia's Veterans Speak Out, page 92:

The best thing about caravans is that they're always exactly the same, said Terence Butcher. You can tow your caravan to Brighton or Bournemouth or Bognor. Doesn′t make the blindest bit of difference. When you close the door behind you at the end of the day you′re home.

2009, Chris Cleave, Incendiary, unnumbered page:

(Australia, British, New Zealand, South Africa) A furnished vehicle towed behind a car, etc., and used as a dwelling when stationary.


moko

No calligraphist could have drawn the moko so perfectly in the short time the fingers execute it.

1983, Keri Hulme, The Bone People, Penguin, published 1986, page 373:

He decides to overtrace the moko on Te Rau's face.

2014, Peter Wells, Journey to a Hanging:

(New Zealand) A traditional Maori tattoo (image made in the skin), traditionally done with chisels; also, such an image used as a personal sign or signature.


moko

(New Zealand) A grandchild, or any younger child.


kutu

'Yes,' Kuikui continued, 'all the cow shit from the milking, and we don't want Blondie's kutus floating in our water.'

2014, Witi Ihimaera, Maori Boy: A Memoir of Childhood:


kono

To others my love is a plaited kono / Full or empty […] .

1972, James K. Baxter, ‘He Waiata mo Te Kare’, Selected Poems, Te Herenga Waka University Press 2023, p. 264

His son Hector is the source image of the young boy seated on a log eating a potato from a kono […] .

2016, Nigel Borell, in Ngahiraka Mason (Ed.), Gottfried Lindauer’s New Zealand: The Māori Portraits, p. 214

(New Zealand) A traditional Maori woven basket.


atua

From Maori atua. Compare Tahitian atua, Samoan atua, Hawaiian akua.

Nothing was taken from the domain of these atua without respect, propitiation and expressions of gratitude.

2003, Michael King, The Penguin History of Aotearoa New Zealand, Penguin, published 2023, page 127:

(chiefly New Zealand) A spiritual being in Polynesian culture; a god or demon.


sav

1982, Ronald Hugh Morrieson, NZ, Predicament, The Dunmore Press, page 68,
“Well, I don′t know what you′ll think. I′m only saying this to show what you′ve all done for me, but last Christmas dinner I had cold savs.”
There was silence and then Mervyn added with a break in his voice, “Saveloys. […] ”

‘Your turn today, Lil,’ he said. ‘Fish and chips for me. No, wait, I′ll have savs, faggots and pease pudding.’

2007, Gilda O'Neill, Rough Justice, UK: William Heinemann, page 397:

The menu of the average fish and chip shop will also offer[…]battered savs/Pluto pups (these are basically saveloy sausages with a fried batter on a stick, dipped in tomato ketchup) as well as a choice of homemade marinated pickles.

2008, Deborah Penrith, Live & Work in Australia, UK: Crimson Publishing, page 176:

(UK, Australia, New Zealand, informal) A saveloy.


fair suck of the sav

sav is an abbreviation of saveloy, a seasoned and smoked pork sausage.

fair suck of the sauce bottle
fair suck of the sauce bottle#English

(Australia, New Zealand, colloquial, informal) Synonym of fair suck of the sauce bottle.


throw a sickie

en-verb

throw a sickie (third-person singular simple present throws a sickie, present participle throwing a sickie, simple past threw a sickie, past participle thrown a sickie)

throws a sickie (present singular third-person)
throwing a sickie (participle present)
threw a sickie (past)
thrown a sickie (participle past)
chuck a sickie (alternative)

Hogie said, “Listen, I′m throwing a sickie. I don′t need to be there until opening day tomorrow. The staff don′t arrive till then anyway so as long as I'm in early I can′t see a problem.”

1997, Nicholas Blincoe, Jello Salad, page 49:

2005, Callum G. Brown, The Unconverted and the Conversion, Jan N. Bremmer, Wout J. van Bekkum, Arie L. Molendijk (editors), Paradigms, Poetics, and Politics of Conversion: Gender Relations in the Salvation Narrative in Britain: 1800-1960, page 190,
It is like throwing a ‘sickie’ in Britain today — you can sign-off work on your own say-so for sick benefit for up to five days.

Do not ‘throw a sickie’ just because things get tough. Experience shows that running away from your problems will not solve anything.

2011, Gererd Dixie, The Ultimate Teaching Manual: A Route to Success for Beginning Teachers, page 187:

(slang, UK, Australia, New Zealand) To take a day off from work for ill health (either real or feigned).

whakangehengehe

to feign illness so to take time off work


no worries

From no + plural of worry (“concern, cause for anxiety”), but used flexibly.

Sorry if my music's bothering you. — No worries. I really like classical.

(especially UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Malaysia, colloquial) A general injunction not to be concerned further with a subject.

It does not bother me; I am not concerned.

Thanks for the lovely bowl of fruit. — No worries, my sister runs a stall at the market.

It was no problem; not at all; you're welcome.

I need this done by closing time. — No worries, I'll have it sorted.


hapu

hapus (plural)
hapu (plural)
hapū (alternative)

“I don't know whose family it belongs in. I made enquiries round all my relations, and most Ngai Tahu hapu.”

1983, Keri Hulme, The Bone People, Penguin, published 1986, page 253:

Sometimes such migrations led nascent hapū to districts well away from those of the tribe's previous habitation.

2003, Michael King, The Penguin History of Aotearoa New Zealand, Penguin, published 2023, page 67:

In political terms Māori also organised for war in hapu, groups subordinate to chiefs, fighting as units.

2020, Sujit Sivasundaram, Waves Across the South, William Collins, published 2021, page 68:

(New Zealand) A subtribe of an iwi or Maori tribe; the basic political unit within Māori society; a subtribe or extended family.


skol

skol (third-person singular simple present skols, present participle skolling or skoling, simple past and past participle skolled or skoled)

skols (present singular third-person)
skolling (participle present)
skoling (participle present)
skolled (participle past)
skolled (past)
skoled (participle past)
skoled (past)
scull (alternative)

Borrowed from Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish skål.

When diners leave a quarter of a carafe full of house wine we put it above the sink to refill for new orders, but often I catch him skolling the remains of whatever he can get his hands on.

2010, Penelope Green, When in Rome: Chasing la dolce vita:

The Aussie skolled his beer, threw the Kiwi into the fireplace, and shot him.

(Australia, New Zealand, slang, transitive) To drink the entire contents of a drinking vessel without pausing.


haku

yellowtail amberjack
yellowtail amberjack#English

Seriola lalandi
Seriola lalandi#Translingual

(New Zealand) The yellowtail amberjack (Seriola lalandi).


gridiron

en-noun

gridiron (countable and uncountable, plural gridirons)

From resembling the shape of a gridiron (a square rectilinear grid).

1995 October 3, Peter O′Shea, Sports: Out on the field, The Advocate, page 54,
He represented Australia in this year′s rugby tour of England and is as well-known in Australia as any top gridiron player is in the United States.

So Jackie′s name became known far and wide as an exceptional gridiron player.

2001, Langston Hughes, Dolan Hubbard, Jackie Robinson: First Negro in Big League Baseball: 1919—: The Collected Works of Langston Hughes, Volume 12: Works for Children and Young Adults, page 106:

2009, Deborah Healey, Sport and the Law, reference note, UNSW Press, page 271,
119 Yasser (1985) cites the famous US example of gridiron player Dick Butkus of the Chicago Bears.

(uncountable, Australia and New Zealand) American and Canadian football, particularly when used to distinguish from other codes of football.


gridiron

en-verb

gridiron (third-person singular simple present gridirons, present participle gridironing, simple past and past participle gridironed)

gridirons (present singular third-person)
gridironing (participle present)
gridironed (participle past)
gridironed (past)

(New Zealand, historical) To purchase land so that the remaining adjacent sections are smaller than the minimum area purchasable as freehold, thus excluding potential freeholders.


puha

‘Come on,’ she says to the entranced child, ‘downstairs and help us collect some puha to go with them.’

1983, Keri Hulme, The Bone People, Penguin, published 1986, page 68:

(New Zealand) Any of various Eurasian sowthistles of the genus Sonchus, used as a vegetable by Māori people; especially the prickly sowthistle, Sonchus asper.


aroha

From Maori aroha. Doublet of aloha and aropa.

As much as possible, even under threat, mana should be tempered with aroha.

1986, Joan Metge, In and Out of Touch: Whakamaa in Cross Cultural Context, →ISBN, page 124:

They do not come to this meeting house with respect, nor with aroha.

1995, Witi Tame Ihimaera, Kingfisher come home, page 129:

I am filled with aroha and compassion for our Muslim communities, for all migrants, for refugees and for Christchurch.

2019, Eugenie Sage, Green Party Communications:

This year's relay really captured this because the atmosphere was beautiful and filled with aroha.

2019 March 18, “New short-form Relay for Life captures aroha”, in Gisborne Herald:


pounamu

“They didn't exactly eat off pounamu plates, but they left quite a bit to us all.”

1983, Keri Hulme, The Bone People, Penguin, published 1986, page 233:

Over time, the hooks became increasingly stylized and now are a popular shape for decorative pounamu pendants called hei matau, the first word indicating that the matau is worn around the neck.

2021 June 12, Charlotte Graham-McLay, “In New Zealand, the Fishhook Pendant Called Hei Matau”, in The New York Times:


ageing

en-noun

ageing (countable and uncountable, plural ageings)

ageings (plural)
aging (alternative Canada US)

UK, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa standard spelling of aging.


ageing

"The Tees Valley has ageing diesel trains that predate any form of emission control.

2020 May 20, Paul Clifton, “A hydrogen solution to decarbonisation?”, in RAIL, page 54:

These two events have exposed the road haulage industry as being reliant on a poorly paid and ageing workforce, dependent on employees recruited from low-wage countries in Europe.

2021 October 20, Industry Insider, “The wheels turn slowly”, in RAIL, number 942, page 68:


mossie

mossies (plural)
mozzie (alternative)
mozzy (alternative)
mossy (alternative)

Diminutive formed from mosquito. Compare Dutch meuzie (“mosquito”).

She came out, standing a head taller than him, tugging a loose cotton shift into place, and made for a rough brick fireplace beside a pile of rusting pots and pans.
‘Come inside,’ Willi said. ‘The mossies will eat you alive out here.’

1996, Patricia Shaw, The Opal Seekers, unnumbered page:

Tip 1 : Make sure there is clearance between your body and the net. If the net touches your skin, the mossie will be able to bite you through it.

2003, Jack Lagan, A B Sea: A Loose-Footed Lexicon, page 211:

He had becoms full of Bay intelligence about mosquito repellent measures. Apart from the obvious—mossie coils, citronella candles, zappers, fine nets suspended over beds and Rid roll-on or spray—he decided to invest in bush gear from an army disposal store. The mossies, who know a city slicker when they bite one, had been stinging clear through his Calvin Clone T-shirts from the Hong Kong markets and feasting on his bare arms as if presented with a juicy buffet.

2012, Susan Kurosawa, Coasting: A Year by the Bay, unnumbered page:

(UK, Australia, New Zealand, colloquial) A mosquito.


munga

(Australia, New Zealand, slang, dated) Food


bit on the side

bit on the side (plural bits on the side)

I'm married to Paula, but Jackie, my bit on the side, is far more fun.

(slang, British, New Zealand, Australia) A secondary lover, a mistress.


mado

mado (usually uncountable, plural mados)

(Australia, New Zealand) Any fish in the genus Atypichthys, in Australia mostly Atypichthys strigatus and in New Zealand Atypichthys latus.


Weet-Bix

A deliberate alteration of wheat + biscuit. A trademark owned by Sanitarium Health and Wellbeing Company, used in Australian English from the 1920s onwards.

1995, Dave Warner, City of Light, Fremantle Arts Centre Press, page 320,
While my Weet-bix soaked, I learned why from morning radio. Premier Malcolm was thought to be on the verge of tendering his resignation.

“This is my breakfast in Australia.[…]”[…]Siri soaked his Weet-bix with kiri-hodi and ate it. Siri′s mother tried it plain.

2002, Sunil Govinage, The Black Australian: Black Swans and Other Stories, page 25:

I′m so nervous at breakfast, I accidentally pour apple juice over my Weet-Bix, not milk. I eat it anyway. It tastes sweet and chewy. I should write to the Sanitarium Health Food Company with my serving suggestion. Call it, ‘Weet-Bix Surprise’.

2009, Steven Herrick, Rhyming Boy, ReadHowYouWant, page 148:

(Australia, New Zealand, South Africa) A breakfast cereal sold in Australia and New Zealand, consisting of biscuits of compressed wholegrain flakes.


colour television

colour television (countable and uncountable, plural colour televisions)

tlb

(British spelling, Australia, New Zealand)

colour televisions (plural)
color television (alternative)

(countable) A television set that displays images in colour.


bugger up

en-verb

bugger up (third-person singular simple present buggers up, present participle buggering up, simple past and past participle buggered up)

buggers up (present singular third-person)
buggering up (participle present)
buggered up (participle past)
buggered up (past)

Tok Pisin: bagarap

/ˈbʌɡə(ɹ)ʌp/

I've buggered up the sudoku somehow and can't finish it.

Well, he only buggers up one sentence, and that's the first one. He says, 'Shut up, blek.' But from that point on, it was OK because I helped him with it. If I'd been there, I would have told him to say, 'Shut up, black', exactly the same as an American accent.

2016 March 15, David Dale, “John Jarratt talks new show Territory Cops and a murderous return in Wolf Creek”, in The Sydney Morning Herald:

(British, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, informal) To break or spoil something, or make it inoperative, useless etc.

(British, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, informal) To injure or harm (someone).


poke borax

poke borax (third-person singular simple present pokes borax, present participle poking borax, simple past and past participle poked borax)

pokes borax (present singular third-person)
poking borax (participle present)
poked borax (participle past)
poked borax (past)
poke borack (alternative)
poke borak (alternative)
poke the borax (alternative)

From poke borak or poke borack, probably by substitution of the unfamiliar word, by the law of Hobson-Jobson.

Maybe the geezer was a major really. Or maybe he was poking borax. That was the trouble with toffs from outside the area – you didn't know where you were with them.

2004, C. K. Stead, Mansfield: A Novel, unnumbered page:

‘Your mother didn′t have any call to go slinging off about me moey, anyway,’ complained Hughie suddenly, and from thirty years ago steamed up a resentment that had never really gone off the boil. ‘She always did have a tongue in her head that would scare the hair off a coconut.’
‘Don′t go poking borax at the dead,’ remonstrated Mumma, then she added softly, ‘It was that nice, too, all black and silky.’

1948, Ruth Park, The Harp in the South, Penguin, published 2009, unnumbered page:

"Now you′re poking borax at me, Mother! Making me out to be a romancer and historian. Aren′t I a farmer?"

1955, Helen Mary Wilson, Land of My Children, page xiii:

1975, New Zealand House of Representatives, Parliamentary Debates, page 3399,
Hon. S. J. Faulkner—You see, as long as the people concerned are not political, it is O.K. But members opposite want to poke borax at people who dare to have a different view from that of the Leader of the Opposition.

1991, Maud Cahill, Christine Dann (editors), Changing Our Lives: Women Working in the Women′s Liberation Movement, 1970-1990, Bridget Williams Books, New Zealand, page 74,
It was an acceptable way of poking borax at unions for being so bloody backward.

(intransitive, Australia, New Zealand, often with "at") To ridicule.


hot flush

(UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand) A sudden, but brief, sensation of heat over the entire body; a common symptom of the menopause.

هِبَّة الْحَرَارَة

sudden sensation of heat, symptom of the menopause


ning-nong

ning-nongs (plural)
ning nong (alternative)

From British dialect (northern) ning-nang (“a fool”).

That “ning-nong of an MP” as Billy Lane calls him, Fred Brentnall, in his squeaky lorikeet voice reads to the House Lawson′s last two stanzas, just to highlight the danger besetting the colony of Queensland, indeed, the whole country:[…]

2006, Pip Wilson, Faces in the Street: Louisa and Henry Lawson and the Castlereagh Street Push, page 147:

2007, Ethel Chop (Andrea Powell), Strain Your Gherkins, unnumbered page,
And you might not know this, but potatoes are in fact a symbol of communism. Well what′s vodka made from? It isn′t fairy floss! It's potatoes, ning-nong!

He wrote a series of articles about a gang of greenies who′ve been interfering with commercial dragnet fishing, setting off firebombs and creating a nuisance. Made them out to be a bunch of ning-nongs and thugs.

2010, Jeanne Matthews, Bones of Contention, page 12:

We felt like total ning-nongs.

2011, Richard Wilkins, Black Ties, Red Carpets, Green Rooms, unnumbered page:

(Australia, New Zealand, colloquial, slang) A stupid person; an idiot.


rainbird

From rain + bird, from the sound of their call, a beautiful liquid gurgle rising and falling like water pouring from a bottle.

(New Zealand) A grey warbler (Gerygone igata).


bottler

* Perhaps from the idea of something being of a high quality and worthy of preservation by bottling, probably from the phrase "good enough to bottle"; compare corker.
* Perhaps a modification of battler, Australian slang of similar meaning.

In Kiwi language anyway, the Minister of Industries and Commerce will go down in history as a real bottler in every sense of the word.

1970, New Zealand House of Representatives, Parliamentary Debates, page 455:

Mum's a real bottler and you′ll find her very sympathetic.

2007, Anthony David Parsons, Tony Parsons, Valley of the White Gold:

“You′re a real bottler, mate. That sheila has been trying to get into my pants ever since Sydney. Didn't know how I′d get rid of her.”

2010, Drew Hunt, Colin and Martin′s London Christmas, page 7:

(Australia, New Zealand, slang, often with "real") a person or thing that is excellent or admirable.


dwang

Borrowed from Dutch dwang, from Middle Dutch dwanc.

(carpentry, Scotland, New Zealand) A horizontal timber (or steel) section used in the construction of a building.


Anzac biscuit

Associated with the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) established in World War I.

(Australia, New Zealand) A biscuit made from oats, coconut and golden syrup.


bullhead

(New Zealand) A fish of species Gobiomorphus gobioides.


hoik

en-noun

hoik (countable and uncountable, plural hoiks)

Possibly originally a form of hike (itself of unclear etymology).


hoik

en-verb

hoik (third-person singular simple present hoiks, present participle hoiking, simple past and past participle hoiked)

hoiks (present singular third-person)
hoiking (participle present)
hoiked (participle past)
hoiked (past)
hoick (alternative)


snapper

snappers (plural)
schnapper (alternative)

Heigh-ho ye trawler men come on, forget the snapper and the prawn,

1971, Harry Robertson, “Ballina Whalers” (lyrics)

And it’s out of Ballina we’ll sail, a-fishing for the Humpback whale.

Any of approximately 100 different species of fish.

(Australia, New Zealand) The fish Chrysophrys auratus, especially an adult of the species.


geoduck

en-noun

geoduck (countable and uncountable, plural geoducks)

geoducks (plural)
geoduc (alternative)
geoduk (alternative)
goeduck (alternative)
goeduc (alternative)
goeduk (alternative)
goeyduck (alternative)
goeyduc (alternative)
goeyduk (alternative)
gooeduck (alternative)
gooeduc (alternative)
gooeyduck (alternative)
gooeyduc (alternative)
gooeyduc (alternative)
gooiduck (alternative)
gooiduc (alternative)
gooiduk (alternative)
gweduck (alternative)
gweduc (alternative)
gweduk (alternative)
gwiduck (alternative)
gwiduc (alternative)
gwiduk (alternative)

From Lushootseed gʷídəq, variously understood as reference to its deep digging or resemblance to male genitalia. The unusual spelling of the first syllable is thought to represent editorial hypercorrection of forms with goe- &c. (probably under influence from the common prefix geo-), despite the earlier attestation of forms with geo-. The spelling pronunciation /ˈdʒiːəʊdʌk/ once listed in dictionaries is now considered nonstandard. The common spelling of the second syllable is under influence from duck, originally with reference to the mollusc's resemblance to the body and neck of a dead duck.

Alick Shaw... uses up to 14 kilograms of geoduck in chowder weekly...

(New Zealand) Other species of Panopea, especially Panopea zelandica, native to the coasts of New Zealand.


superannuation

superannuation (usually uncountable, plural superannuations)

/ˈs(j)ʉːpəˌɹænjʉːˈæɪʃn̩/

From superannuate + -ion, from superannuated.

One of the principal objections to it was, that the period of service, after which superannuations were granted, was too limited,[…].

1823, Edmund Burke, editor, Annual Register: 1822, volume 64, page 137:

I think it would be harsh to deprive them of their superannuations without a knowledge of the circumstances under which they are proposed.

1840, John Henry Barrow, editor, The Mirror of Parliament, volume 4, page 2867:

A person must not discriminate by failing to supply superannuation or insurance, or in the terms on which, or in the way in which superannuation or insurance is supplied.

1991, John Godwin, Michael Costa, Julie Hamblin, Mark Duffy, David Patterson, Australian HIV/AIDS Legal Guide, page 465:

If an entity employs temporary residents who are eligible for the superannuation guarantee, then the entity is required to make superannuation contributions for them.

2010, Stephen J Marsden, Australian Master Bookkeepers Guide [2009/10], 3rd edition, page 578:

(UK, Australia, New Zealand) A retirement benefit fund, an accumulation of regular deductions from one′s wage or salary while employed and similar regular contributions from the employer, usually administered by an independent entity; a pension.


tramping

tramping (countable and uncountable, plural trampings)

(Australia, New Zealand, uncountable) Walking in the countryside for pleasure or sport; hiking


topside

To detach the round bone, the biggest muscle of the round, the topside, must first be removed. This is done by cutting down to the round bone in a layer of connective tissue which separates the topside from the nuggle.

2004, Z. Farah, A. Fischer, editors, Milk and Meat from the Camel: Handbook on Products and Processing, page 116:

Slow roasting is better for lean or not so tender cuts such as topside or whole bolar blade, which are not suitable to be cooked very pink.

2008, Leanne Kitchen, The Butcher, Murdoch Books, page 27:

It is removed from its attachment to the silverside along the natural seam, and from the topside by a straight cut along the line of the femur bone.

2012, Graham Dodgshun, Michel Peters, David O′Dea, Cookery for the Hospitality Industry, 6th edition, Cambridge University Press, page 384:

(UK, Australia, New Zealand) The outer side of a round of beef.


silverside

(Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Ireland, informal) corned beef made with this type of meat.


Heathrow injection

Heathrow injection (plural Heathrow injections)

In reference to Heathrow Airport, a major international airport in London.

Obviously the Heathrow injection is a recent phenomenon then? :)

2001 November 14, Sean Byrne, “who's no.1 - the solution”, in rec.sport.rugby.union (Usenet):

Drink after work, catch the tube home and eat curry.
So what weight are you up to after your Heathrow Injection?

2005 May 31, Shabby, “Roles & Responsibilities in Hippy's absence.”, in aus.bicycle (Usenet):

For instance, I had a girlfriend who had just come back from England and was still recovering from the Heathrow injection.

2006, Kevin McCallum., In Search of South Africa's Perfect Woman, Two Dogs,, →ISBN, page 164:

[…]the last time I'd seen them in Australia I felt an aching need to feed her a sandwich but I saw her on Spicks & Specks the other week and the "Heathrow Injection" has done her good.

2007 May 24, Robert Atkins, “Chock's gig review: Howling Bells at The Metro, Sydney, 11.05.2007”, in alt.music (Usenet):

(Australia, New Zealand, colloquial) The phenomenon of rapid weight gain experienced by a non-British person upon settling in London, attributed to a busy schedule encouraging the consumption of convenience food.


inside-the-Beltway

inside the beltway (alternative)
in the Beltway (alternative)
in the beltway (alternative)

Derives from the Beltway, a highway that encircles Washington, D.C.
Transferred to New Zealand.

(New Zealand) Of or relating to New Zealand politics in the capital city of Wellington, New Zealand.


March fly

March flies (plural)
march fly (alternative)
marchfly (alternative)
Marchfly (alternative)

Leo crushed a couple of March flies to death on his splendid mahogany thigh and looked at her speculatively.

1979, Thea Astley, Hunting the Wild Pineapple, Nelson, page 130:

There were other, less pleasant forms of life, too; March flies with a spike-like proboscis I thought would have no trouble going through a pine board.

1988, Tom Cole, Hell West and Crooked, Angus & Robertson, published 1995, page 237:

(Australia, New Zealand) Any of the bloodsucking horseflies of family Tabanidae.


comforter

From Middle English comfortour et al, from Anglo-Norman confortour, from Old French conforter. See comfort.


public transport

public transport (countable and uncountable, plural public transports)

Nevertheless, China’s investment in subway systems is overwhelmingly positive. And there are also encouraging signs, too, that Chinese cities are beginning to shape urban development around public transport hubs. For example, Tiantongyuan, a high-density community of giant housing blocks in the suburbs of northern Beijing, has three subway stations.

2012, Tom Miller, China's Urban Billion: The story behind the biggest migration in human history, Zed Books, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 137:

The Airports National Policy Statement objectives require the proportion of journeys made to the airport by passengers to be at least 50% by public transport by 2030 and 55% by 2040.

2019 October, John Glover, “Heathrow rail expansion”, in Modern Railways, page 71:

(UK, Australia, New Zealand) Any form of transport that can be used by a member of public (who usually pays a fare); as opposed to private ownership of e.g. cars.

公共交通機関

こうきょうこうつうきかん


NPC

National Provincial Championship
w:National Provincial Championship

(New Zealand) Initialism of National Provincial Championship.


get stuffed

Get stuffed! I don't want to talk to you again!

Eventually, she heard him say something in his deliberate, gruff voice: just two words:
“Get stuffed!”

1992, Émile Zola, translated by Douglas Parmée, Nana, published 1998, page 243:

“You could wear them at fancy dress parties,” I suggested.
“Get stuffed!” he growled.

2007, James Hosier, “Getting Stuffed”, in John Patrick, editor, Dreamboys: A New Collection of Erotic Tales, page 130:

“And what, pray tell, is that? Money? Well, you can get stuffed!” he said sitting down in the chair.

2010, Jeff Wright, Sage, Dead Gorgeous, page 593:

don't let the door hit you on the way out

Entries in :Category:English dismissals.

(UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, colloquial, dismissal, euphemistic) Used to tell somebody to go away or to leave one alone.


larrikin

larrikins (plural)
larikin (alternative)
larrykin (alternative)

Origin uncertain, possibly from *larick (Northern England) (an unattested variant of lark (“bird of the family Alaudidae; frolic or romp, some fun; prank; (East Suffolk, obsolete) unruly or wild person”, noun), from laverock (“(chiefly Northern England, Scotland, archaic) lark (bird)”); compare the variant forms lairock, larrock (chiefly Northern England), larick, larrick (chiefly Scotland)) + -kin (diminutive suffix). However, the Oxford English Dictionary notes that it is not clear why a word attested in the West Midlands (particularly Warwickshire and Worcestershire) and in Southeast England (Cornwall) would be derived from a word from Northern England.
Other suggestions include the following:
* The word is an Irish policeman’s pronunciation of larking (“engaging in careless adventure, frolicking; engaging in harmless pranking, sporting”), heard by a reporter in a Melbourne police court around 1870. The Oxford English Dictionary states there is no evidence of such an incident having been reported in the local newspapers of the time, and that in any case the word is attested earlier in Cornwall, England (since the early 19th century), and in Australia (at least from 1867: see the quotation).
* The first element of the word is from the name of an unknown Irishman named Larry.
The adjective is from an attributive use of the noun.

To keep me out of trouble I was sent to the wood-gang Cascade an out station about two miles from headquarters. On arriving at this place the following dialogue passed between me and the overseer: […] "A bit of a larrikin, T——, but it won't do here, you know." "No odds about that—what's the work?"

1867 October 14 (date written), “The autobiography of a convict”, in The Empire, number 4,964, Sydney, N.S.W.: Samuel Bennett, published 16 October 1867, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 6, column 2:

I wish to call your attention to the annoyance foot passengers are subject to by the ill-behaviour and disgraceful conduct exhibited by the larrikins, and also from men (who ought to know better), who infest the market reserve for the purpose of disposing of their wood, and who, until they do so, are the cause of the annoyance above referred to, which I suppose they would term amusing themselves. The rows and fights which they betimes indulge in, accompanied by some of the foulest and most blasphemous language, frequently to passers-by, and also the obstruction of the footpath, ought to attract the attention of those at whose hands the remedy lies.

1870 November 22, Pro Bono Publico [pseudonym], “The larrikin nuisance. To the editor of the Advertiser.”, in The Geelong Advertiser, number 7505, Geelong, Vic.: […] [F]or the proprietors by Alfred Douglass, […], →ISSN, →OCLC, page 3, column 7:

How dare you talk to me like that, you young larrikin? Be off! or I'll send for a policeman.

1896, Henry Lawson, “A Visit of Condolence”, in While the Billy Boils, Sydney, N.S.W.: Angus and Robertson […], →OCLC, page 209:

The reputation of the Melbourne larrikin was world wide, the larrikin being the forerunner of the hooligan. Law and education had failed to reform these larrikins, and at last some of the citizens hit on the method of forming cadet corps, which had proved to be a conspicuous success, and larrikinism was now dead; the streets of Melbourne knew it no more as a real source of terror.

1907 June 17, Guy Baring, “Territorial and Reserve Forces Bill”, in The Parliamentary Debates (Authorised Edition), Fourth Series, Second Session of the Twenty-eighth Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland […], volume CLXXVI, London: Wyman and Sons, […] [for] His Majesty’s Stationery Office, →OCLC, column 247:

Flagstaff Hill [in Dunedin] is a hill without a flagstaff. […] Another man told me there never had been a staff on the hill; but if there had been, perhaps larrikins would have removed it. For larrikinism is one of the evils of New Zealand. Everywhere there one hears of the larrikin, or young hoodlum. Larrikins are an unorganized, mischievous fraternity. They are always despoiling or marring public or private property or making people the butt of coarse jokes and jeers. If something is stolen, "the larrikins took it"; if windows or park seats are broken, "the larrikins did it."

1913 October, [David] Paul Gooding, “Dunedin—Miscellaneous Ben Rudd and Flagstaff Hill—Roomy Invercargill—State Oysters—Romantic Stewart Island”, in Picturesque New Zealand, Boston, Mass.; New York, N.Y.: Houghton Mifflin Company […], →OCLC, pages 170–171:

Then the Wet Season came with its extremes of heat and humidity and depraving influences on the minds of corruptible men. Even Oscar began to drink to excess. But he never bawled and pranced and wallowed in mud and came home in the arms of shouting larrikins.

1938, Xavier Herbert, “Psychological Effect of a Solar Topee”, in Capricornia […], New York, N.Y.; London: D[aniel] Appleton-Century Company, published 1943, →OCLC, page 18:

He [Robert Percy Whitworth] was one of the earliest writers to turn the city larrikin to literary account in a variation of the picaresque conte, […]

1953, Colin Roderick, “Biographical Notes”, in Colin Roderick, editor, Australian Round-up: Stories from 1790 to 1950, Sydney, N.S.W.; London: Angus and Robertson, →OCLC, page 345:

(Australia, New Zealand, slang, historical) A young, brash, and impertinent, and possibly violent, troublemaker, especially one who is a gang member; a hooligan.


ginch

She probably up there getting her ginch plowed right this minute by some drummer out of Richmond.

(British, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, slang, vulgar) vagina, pussy.


kiore

The only means of transport available to kiore was Polynesian vessels.

2003, Michael King, The Penguin History of Aotearoa New Zealand, Penguin, published 2023, page 6:

Rattus exulans
Rattus exulans#Translingual

(New Zealand) The Polynesian rat, Rattus exulans.


skite

From Middle English skyt, skytte, skytt, from Old Norse skítr (“dung, faeces”), from Proto-Germanic *skītaz, *skitiz. Cognate with Old English sċite (“dung”). Doublet of shit and shite.

[T]he Rooster was one of those fine, upstanding, bumptious skites who love to talk all day, in the heartiest manner, to total strangers while their wives do the washing.

1918, Norman Lindsay, The Magic Pudding, page 74:

(Australia, Ireland, New Zealand) One who skites; a boaster.


skite

en-verb

skite (third-person singular simple present skites, present participle skiting, simple past and past participle skited)

skites (present singular third-person)
skiting (participle present)
skited (participle past)
skited (past)
skyte (alternative)

You boast and skite from morn to night / And think you're very brave, / But the men who really did the job / Are dead and in their graves.

a. 1918, “The Ragtime Army” [World War I Australian Army song], cited in Graham Seal, “The Singing Soldiers”, in Inventing Anzac: The Digger and National Mythology (UQP Australian Studies), St. Lucia, Qld.: University of Queensland Press in association with the API Network, Australia Research Institute, Curtin University of Technology, 2004, ISBN 978-0-7022-3447-7, page 53

He still had bumfluff on his cheeks, he was that young. About once a month he used to shave it off, and come skiting about it. I smiled at the memory of him all lathered up, grinning at me through the mirror as he went to work on the bumfluff.

1983, John Carroll, Token Soldiers, Boronia, Vic.: Wildgrass Books, →ISBN, page 247:

That Smasher, he said, and forced laugh. My word he can spin a yarn! She glanced towards him, her face halved by the lamplight. Just skiting, you reckon?

2005, Kate Grenville, The Secret River, Melbourne, Vic.: Text Publishing, →ISBN, page 159:

"England is mine," Henry says over a pint[…]. "I hope that's not skiting." / "That's not skiting, sport. Edward Garnett reckons you're the best new thing in the Empire, and so do I. Good on you, mate, nothing on earth can stop you now! Here's mud in your eye."

2006, Pip Wilson, Faces in the Street: Louisa and Henry Lawson and the Castlereagh Street Push, 2nd edition, Coffs Harbour, N.S.W.: Pip Wilson, →ISBN, page 405:

Without wishing to skite, the only other accurate prediction on 2015 was penned here by your columnist last January when we accurately forecast that all the forecasts would be inaccurate.

2016 January 4, Ian Verrender, “The crystal ball gazers got it all wrong in 2015 – don't expect better this year”, in Australian Broadcasting Corporation, archived from the original on 2016-06-20:

(Australia, Ireland, New Zealand) To boast.


nutting

en-noun

nutting (countable and uncountable, plural nuttings)

After the party had wound up, I did a bit of hard nutting over my plans for trotting.

1951, Dal Stivens, Jimmy Brockett: portrait of a notable Australian, Australasian Book Society, published 1966, page 140:

(Australia, New Zealand, slang) Thinking very hard or puzzling over something.


sparky

[…]the manager of one of the largest hotels, also a committee member ‘let it be known that sparkies working for the hotel should be involved in the programme. The next day saw three very keen contractors ring us up to enrol.’

2001, Jane Kenway, Peter Kelly, Sue Willis, “6: Manufacturing the Global Locality, Customizing the School and Designing Young Workers”, in Jack Demaine, editor, Sociology of Education Today, UK: Palgrave, page 138:

Pete said that the sparkies, the electricians, had turned the power off.

2004, Stephanie Smith, Underground London, UK: Hachette, unnumbered page:

Sam and Jamie set up the barbecue and tables they′d borrowed from the surf club, Tony organised all the tradesmen, the chippies quickly put the first platform in place so Fizz could set up her sound system while the sparkies rigged up sound and lights, and the plumbers were happy to act as security.

2008, Laurine Croasdale, Surf Sisters, Pan Macmillan Australia, page 122:

2010, Meegan Jones, Sustainable Event Management: A Practical Guide, Earthscan, UK and US, page 86,
You need to educate yourself so you can talk turkey with the sparkies. You don′t need an electrician′s qualification, but if you can demonstrate a basic understanding of the principles behind supplying power to your event, you can have a decent conversation about options and solutions.

(UK, Australia, New Zealand) An electrician.


guyver

guiver (alternative)
gyver (alternative)

(Australia, New Zealand, slang) Flattering talk; behaviour put on to impress or deceive; persiflage.


zorbing

(originally New Zealand) A sport in which a participant is secured inside a zorb and rolled downhill.


mossy

(UK, Australia, New Zealand, colloquial) Alternative form of mossie (“mosquito”).


miro

“The only thing I don't bloody know is where you'd find a miro tree round here.”

1983, Keri Hulme, The Bone People, Penguin, published 1986, page 349:

Pectinopitys ferruginea
Pectinopitys ferruginea#Translingual

Prumnopitys ferruginea
Prumnopitys ferruginea#Translingual

(New Zealand) A large conifer of New Zealand, Pectinopitys ferruginea (syn. Prumnopitys ferruginea), with narrow leaves and reddish fruit; the wood of this tree.


greenie

From green + -ie. Environmentalist sense first attested in Australia in 1973, referring to trade unionists who supported green bans.

People ask me if am I a greenie and I go, ‘No, not in the sense that I chain myself to trees, no I′m not. But in the sense that I am concerned about the environment and do my little bit to help, then yes I am.’

2000, Australian Association for Environmental Education, Australian Journal of Environmental Education, volumes 15-17, page 73:

“What′s a greenie doing with a gas hog like that?”

2008, Adeline Catherine Anderson, Morning Light, page 83:

2009, Sean Dooley, Cooking With Baz, Large Print 16pt Edition, page 25,
‘And whadda you want?’ the barman spat at me.
Above his head was a large sign that read ‘Fertilize the Bush – Doze in a Greenie’. I was dressed in a flannelette shirt and army trousers – exactly like the Greenie protestors they′d been battling the previous year.

(chiefly Australia, New Zealand, slang, derogatory) An environmentalist, someone who shows concern for the environment; often aimed at environmental extremists.


celebrant

From French célébrant, from Latin celebrāns, present participle of celebrō.

These are celebrants who marry people at registry offices.

1983, CCH Australia Limited, Guidebook to Australian Family Law: With Family Law Act and Regulations, page 14:

Church and state are completely separate but all clergy can be licensed as civil celebrants for legal purposes.

1997, Helen Wilkinson, The Proposal: Giving Marriage Back to the People, page 41:

When we first began as celebrants back in 1973, we had no poetry in our heads at all.

2006, Timoshenko Aslanides, Occasions for Words: Poems for Birth, Marriage, Death and Much Between, page v:

(Australia, New Zealand) A person who conducts formal ceremonies in the community, particularly weddings, baby namings, renewals of wedding vows and funerals.


gumboot

gumboot (countable and uncountable, plural gumboots)

gumboots (plural)
gum boot (alternative)

(New Zealand, British, Australia) A type of boot made of rubber.


dole bludger

dole bludgers (plural)
dolebludger (alternative)
dole-bludger (alternative)

As I said earlier, the Prime Minster and the Minister for Employment and Youth Affairs have unmercifully labelled sections of the unemployed as dole bludgers.

1981, Australian Senate, Parliamentary Debates, Senate Weekly Hansard, volume 88, page 697:

People who do not support the common good, such as dole bludgers (social security cheats) fall outside the mateship fold.

1993, Ken Hunt, Mike Taylor, The Xenophobe′s Guide to the Aussies, published 2004, page 13:

1997, Noel Pearson, Shifting Ground Indeed, in 2011, Up from the Mission: Selected Writings, page 73,
So from day one of the new government we saw a sustained orgy of divisiveness and meanness about immigration, Aborigines and dole bludgers.

(Australia, New Zealand, derogatory, slang) An unemployed person who has no intention of seeking a job, and survives on government-funded unemployment benefits.


get stuck into

en-verb

get stuck into (third-person singular simple present gets stuck into, present participle getting stuck into, simple past and past participle got stuck into)

gets stuck into (present singular third-person)
getting stuck into (participle present)
got stuck into (participle past)
got stuck into (past)

1998, Gary McKay, In Good Company
After pulling our boat up the beach there wasn’t much to do but collapse onto the sand and get stuck into some serious drinking.

But although some timber for the house was eventually delivered, he never got around to the building stage. ‘I′ll hire some help and we'll get stuck into it,’ he would say, but the only thing he ever got stuck into was his vodka.

2002, Gary Nash, The Tarasov Saga: From Russia through China to Australia, page 232:

2005, David Else & Oliver Berry, Lonely Planet: England
If you really want to get stuck into a bit of archaeology, check out the Archaeological Resource Centre ...

(UK, Australia, New Zealand) Get busy with; become occupied with; become immersed in.


johnny cake

The little girls sat under the pines eating their thick mutton sandwiches and big slabs of johnny cake spread with butter.

1922, Katherine Mansfield, “The Doll's House”, in Selected Stories, Oxford, published 2002, page 353:

The women were good cooks. They used to cook bread, damper and johnny cake in bakers.

1987, Ida West, “Pride Against Prejudice”, in Heiss & Minter, editor, Macquarie PEN Anthology of Aboriginal Literature, Allen & Unwin, published 2008, page 108:

(Canada, US, Australia, New Zealand, colloquial) Alternative form of johnnycake (“type of basic cornbread”).


fairy bread

‘I was a fairy-bread hogger at parties,’ he told me seriously, his eyes immediately changing. ‘I used to put them in my pockets or hide them wherever I could, until one day I was exposed when my host handed me my parka and four slices of fairy bread fell out. I was seven years old and up till this day if I ever see fairy bread I palpitate and realise that psychologically I will never be cured.’
I laughed at his theatrics and took the Tim Tam he offered me.

1990, Melina Marchetta, Looking for Alibrandi, unnumbered page:

I notice that the rest of the party food has just about disappeared. All that is left are a few puddles of congealing tomato sauce, a couple of smashed meringues and the dried-out crusts from fifty-odd triangles of fairy bread.

Robert cleared his throat. ‘Um, one of the airline hostesses took a shine to Jack and made him some fairy bread. You know, bread with hundreds and thousands? He was pretty happy with that’.

2005, Kris Webb, Kathy Wilson, Inheriting Jack, page 16:

hundreds and thousands
hundreds and thousands

(Australia, New Zealand) A snack made of buttered bread sprinkled with hundreds and thousands.


builder's bum

(chiefly UK, New Zealand, slang) The top of the buttocks exposed when trousers are worn too low, or when the wearer bends over.


truckie

2005, “Marcus”, quoted in Rose McCrohan, Chapter 3: I Don′t Care If I Live or Die, Keith D. Gilbert (editor), Sexuality, Sport and the Culture of Risk, Volume 6, page 45,
I met up with a truckie and stayed on the road with him for most of the two months. I learnt how to drive the truck, even though I didn't have a truck or even a car license. I got to know other truckies and they used to ask for me on the CB radio.

On the day of the funeral truckies on their way to the container wharf slow down as they pass the Railway Hotel and sound their earth-shattering horns.

2007, Ron Davidson, Fremantle Impressions, Fremantle Press, page 282:

Look for the epitaph to a local female truckie outside the roadhouse.

2002, Rob Van Driesum, Outback Australia: Kakadu, Uluru and Kangaroos, Lonely Planet, page 452:

(Australia, New Zealand, slang) A truck driver.


God Save the Queen

First known to be used during the reign of Queen Mary I during certain royal proclamations, likely popularized after William Shakespeare's Richard III c. 1592–1593 due to quotes containing it with its current patriotic meaning that borrowed from some royal proclamations of Queen Elizabeth I.

(UK, Australia, Canada, New Zealand) An expression of one’s patriotism and hope for the long life of the monarch, especially in her presence.


Mondayise

Mondayise (third-person singular simple present Mondayises, present participle Mondayising, simple past and past participle Mondayised)

Mondayises (present singular third-person)
Mondayising (participle present)
Mondayised (participle past)
Mondayised (past)
Mondayize (alternative)

(transitive, New Zealand) To move (a national holiday) to a Monday in order to make the weekend an extended holiday.


sectioning

Nevertheless, some work reports that black women are overrepresented, comprising up to half of the sectionings […]

2005, Gill Aitken, Pam Alldred, Robin Allwood, Psychology, Discourse And Social Practice: From Regulation To Resistance:

(UK, New Zealand, Australia, mental health) An instance of a person being sectioned.


durrie

‘Deadly,’ she said, and passed me the durrie.
I took a drag. Was she watching? No, thank goodness, she was looking down at the water again. I blew the smoke straight out, without taking it into my lungs.
‘Deadly,’ I said, and passed the durrie back to Clarence.

1998, Phillip Gwynne, Deadly Unna?, unnumbered page:

(Australia, New Zealand, slang) Alternative form of durry.


centred

UK, Ireland, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa spelling of centered.


cop shop

From cop (“police officer”) + shop (“workplace”).

1977-1984, Cop Shop (title of an Australian television series).

Billy Suggs spotted Sam standing outside the cop shop when he still was two blocks away.

“Could you go up the cop shop and bring Paul home again” said Heather.

2007, Rachel Bramble, Stephanie Clover, page 47:

He then drove up to the township and dragged me inside the cop shop.

2011, Robert Watkins, A Face in the Crowd, page 40:

(UK, New Zealand, Australia, Canada, slang) A police station.


bluenose

(US, UK, Australia, New Zealand) Antarctic butterfish (Hyperoglyphe antarctica)


corner store

corner stores (plural)
cornerstore (alternative)

(Canada, Australia, New Zealand) A convenience store, whether or not it is on a corner.


track pants

Active apparel is no longer limited to track pants and basketball shorts.

2008, Janet Engle, How to Open & Operate a Financially Successful Fashion Design Business, Atlantic Publishing, page 57:

The defence alleged that Benji had a pistol down inside his track pants, the weapon that Gatto finally killed him with. If the gun had been in Benji′s track pants or briefs there would be oil, dust and gunshot residue on the inside of the fabric.

2010, Adam Shand, Big Shots: Inside Melbourne′s Gangland Wars, Revised edition, page 319:

A pair of grey, flannel track pants outlined the lad′s bottom very nicely indeed.

2011, Ken Smith, Run Naked, Run Free, page 66:

(Australia, Canada, New Zealand, US) Sweatpants.


bung up

bung up (third-person singular simple present bungs up, present participle bunging up, simple past and past participle bunged up)

bungs up (present singular third-person)
bunging up (participle present)
bunged up (participle past)
bunged up (past)

He used a piece of putty to temporarily bung up the leaking gutter.

(British, New Zealand, of a person) To close (an opening) with a cork, cork-like object or other improvised obstruction.

The fallen leaves were bunging up the drain.

By dose is bunged up with snot!

(British, New Zealand, of debris) To block or obstruct (an opening or passage).


bottle shop

The former were catered for both by liquor stores and, to a lesser extent, by the bottle shops of hotels.

1998, Sherry Saggers, Dennis Gray, Dealing with Alcohol: Indigenous Usage in Australia, New Zealand and Canada, page 108:

I visited a bottle shop recently to buy some wine and beer for a dinner party.

2003, Andrew Griffiths, 101 Ways to Really Satisfy Your Customers: How to Keep Your Customers and Attract New Ones, page 85:

I head towards David Jones in the city, which has a bottle shop that is easily robbed of its expensive and unusual spirits.

2007, Laurence Stanway, Awoken by an Angel, unnumbered page:

(Australia, New Zealand) A liquor store.


beat-up

2009, Natasha Robinson, 'James Packer book outrage a beat-up, says Paul Barry', The Australian, Business section
“It has been suggested that this is a vicious book, a poisonous book, that it's a disgrace to have written it,” Mr Barry said at today's book launch. “That's a total beat-up."

2009, Michael Cook, 'Is Britain’s stem cell crisis a beat-up?', BioEdge
Few areas of science journalism are more susceptible to frothy beat-ups than stem cell research.

(Australia, New Zealand) An artificially or disingenuously manufactured outcry, usually in the media.


speedos

From Speedos (“trademark of the Speedo company”), which has become a generic name.

For example, board riders paid more attention to appearances (short hair v long hair, speedos v board shorts) and conspicuous behavior (surfing for training rather than for fun or to express oneself), than life savers.

1979, Kent Pearson, Surfing Subcultures of Australia and New Zealand, University of Queensland Press, page 118:

2000 July, Ian Jack (editor), Granta, Issue 70: Australia: The New New World, →ISBN, page 42,
I remember my mother standing exasperated in the rain with the brolly over her head at dusk while I frog-kicked around in my speedos.

Their club is Manly, and this word is emblazoned across the back of their speedos.

2006, Margaret Henderson, Marking Feminist Times: Remembering the Longest Revolution in Australia, page 212:

(Canada, US, Australia, New Zealand, usually in the plural) A men′s tight fitting brief swimsuit.


my word

My word! What is that!?

(idiomatic, Australia, New Zealand, UK, dated, US, Canada) An expression of surprise.

(idiomatic, Australia, New Zealand, UK, dated, US, Canada) Indeed.


tupuna

en-noun

tupuna (plural tupunas or tupuna or tūpuna)

tupunas (plural)
tupuna (plural)
tūpuna (plural)
tipuna (alternative)

[…] tupunas are there, beside us, in the rain, and when the sun comes busting out.

1998, Janet Hunt, Hone Tuwhare: A Biography, page 139:

We have carved the journeys of the adventures of our tūpuna, who were true navigators—venturing into the unknown—sailing towards the sun.

2015 June 1, Chellie Spiller, Rachel Wolfgramm, Indigenous Spiritualities at Work: Transforming the Spirit of Enterprise, IAP, →ISBN, page 253:

The existence of our wairua in this realm allows us to connect with our tūpuna in the spirit world. The spiritual connection to our tūpuna also exists in certain portals of communication with them.

2019 July 18, Kieran O'Donoghue, Robyn Munford, New Theories for Social Work Practice: Ethical Practice for Working with Individuals, Families and Communities, Jessica Kingsley Publishers, →ISBN, page 203:

(New Zealand) An ancestor, especially a grandparent, in Maori culture.


cold chips

(Australia, New Zealand) potato chips, crisps.


bluestone

bluestone (countable and uncountable, plural bluestones)

Any of several bluish-grey varieties of stone used for construction:

(Australia, New Zealand) A bluish-grey basalt or olivine basalt.


Christmas cracker

Christmas cracker (plural Christmas crackers)

(British, Canada, New Zealand) A table decoration, in the form of a large paper sweet wrapper, constructed around a cardboard tube typically containing a paper hat, silly joke and a small novelty or toy; a pair of people pull the ends of the cracker causing an embedded device to make a crack sound as the cracker breaks in two and the contents are released.


demeanour

By some paradoxical evolution rancour and intolerance have been established in the vanguard of primitive Christianity. Mrs. Spoker, in common with many of the stricter disciples of righteousness, was as inclement in demeanour as she was cadaverous in aspect.

1921, Ben Travers, chapter 4, in A Cuckoo in the Nest, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, published 1925, →OCLC:

At Paisley, a station staff member politely but firmly asks why RAIL is taking so many photographs. The reply - that it's a magnificent station worthy of pictures - changes his demeanour and he's then very apologetic and says he "has to ask".

2025 March 5, “Ayr miles with a 'Spirit of Scotland'”, in RAIL, number 1030, page 43:

UK, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, and Commonwealth spelling of demeanor.


tall poppy

A metaphor of something conspicuous that should be lopped. First use appears c. 1710.

1999 June 1, Polly Schneider, Australia Unbound, CIO, page 43,
Like many thriving, young Australian execs, Simpson has to be wary of being construed a “tall poppy,” a cultural label placed on people who flaunt their success, based on the idea that a poppy taller than the others gets chopped down.

Others have emphasised how it standardised and enforced social mores, cutting down ‘tall poppies’ and shirking those whose race, political beliefs, aspirations – or sexual proclivities – did not or could not bow to peer pressure.

2003, Robert Aldrich, Colonialism and Homosexuality, page 240:

This is not so say that any of the health professionals whom the women encountered were bullies or would have been considered by colleagues as bullies; however, they do appear to have been the agents of a bullying maternity service that disliked clients who were tall poppies and was determined to cut them down to size.

2010, Mary Nolan, Home Birth: The Politics of Difficult Choices, page 46:

(Australia, New Zealand) A conspicuously successful person, especially one who attracts envious hostility.


tall poppy syndrome

One of Australia′s healthiest national traits is the Tall Poppy Syndrome, which involves taking a sceptical view of people who are rich, powerful or successful, and cutting them down to size when they appear pretentious.

1997, David Dale, The 100 Things Everyone Needs to Know About Australia, page 52:

Interestingly, the media in the United States are least prone to the tall poppy syndrome, which is one of the many things I admire about America.

2006, Greg Norman, The Way of the Shark, page 83:

For Allan Scott, one of the ironies of owning a media outlet or being a business success is he becomes a target for other media, a potential victim of the tall poppy syndrome.

2007, Graham Greenwood, A Truckie′s Dream: The Allan Scott Story: His Official Biography, Australia: Wakefield Press, page 86:

The extracts coded as indicative of the tall poppy syndrome reflect the deeply rooted nature of this phenomenon, identified by Feather (1994a) and other researchers. The syndrome is often moderated by other Australian characteristics, and reinforces the enigma of Australian leadership.

2007, Neal M. Ashkanasy, “9: The Australian Enigma”, in Jagdeep Singh Chhokar, Robert J. House, Felix C. Brodbeck, editors, Culture and Leadership, Across the World, page 316:

Speaking of bullying, a few years later in Society and Culture class I wrote an essay, agreeing with the statement that the tall poppy syndrome was alive and well in Australia.

2008, Kristie Theobald, Irish Angels, Lulu, page 97:

(Australia, New Zealand) The tendency to disparage conspicuously successful people.

高大罌粟花綜合症 /高大罂粟花综合症

the tendency to disparage successful people


sooky

en-adj

sooky (comparative sookier or more sooky, superlative sookiest or most sooky)

sookier (comparative)
more sooky (comparative)
sookiest (superlative)
most sooky (superlative)
sookey (alternative)
sukey (alternative)

From sook + -y (“characteristic of”) and -y (“diminutive”).

Kangaroos on the other hand become even more sooky (needy for attention), when denied time outside.

2006, Lynda Staker, The Complete Guide to the Care of Macropods, page 189:

(Australia, Newfoundland, New Zealand, slang) Complaining, whingeing, sad; jealous.

Sentimentalists and political quacks have devoted much time to convincing the sookier twentieth century that nineteenth century New World penitentiaries were choked with near-blameless stealers of one teaspoon, one handkerchief, one loaf of bread.

1978, J. Ferguson, Seven Cities of Australia, page 48:

Judging by the subject matter, Turkish soldiers are the sookiest, purse-carryingest, most sentimental nancy boys ever to put on military uniforms.

1999, Peter Moore, The Wrong Way Home, page 138:

Our trepidation at being savaged by a vicious pig dog was soon allayed, however. He turned out to be the sookiest dog on earth. All he wanted in life was a pet or a cuddle, preferably both.

2009, Evan McHugh, Birdsville, ReadHowYouWant, published 2011, page 139:

(Australia, Newfoundland, New Zealand, slang) Sentimental, sissy; timid.


grundy

Backformation from Grundies, an underwear brand name.

(Australia, New Zealand, UK, slang) A pair of underpants


grundies

* As Grundies, an underwear brand name.
* Possibly an abbreviated form of Reg Grundies, rhyming slang for undies, after media magnate Reg Grundy.

So I shrugged and shifted like my grundies were too tight.

2003, Ken Catran, Bloody Liggie, page 95:

(Australia, New Zealand, UK, slang) Underpants.


singlet

Winston wrenched his body out of bed — naked, for a member of the Outer Party received only 3,000 clothing coupons annually, and a suit of pyjamas was 600 — and seized a dingy singlet and a pair of shorts that were lying across a chair.

1949, George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-Four, page 28:

2000, Nicole Matthews, Kitsch on the Fringe: Suburbia in Recent Australian Comedy Film, Roger Webster, Expanding Suburbia: Reviewing Suburban Narratives, page 176,
The semiotics of the singlet - immediately identifiable in Australia, especially in its usual shade of blue, with male manual labourers¹⁶ - underlines the contrast between the effete fakery of ballroom costumes and real masculinity to be found underneath or in the world of folk dancing.

However, even in the latter he wears a blue singlet to help remind the audience of his working-class roots.

2006, Albert Moran, Errol Vieth, Film in Australia: An Introduction, page 85:

2009, Deborah Penrith, Live & Work in: Australia, Crimson Publishing, UK, page 192,
Women wear dresses, cropped trousers and vests with lightweight linen jackets and you will find men in anything from a business suit to a pair of stubbies (very short shorts) and a singlet top (white vest) or knee-length cargo trousers.

A single piece of clothing, particularly:

(UK, Australia, Ireland, Nigeria, New Zealand, Singapore) A sleeveless buttonless shirt with a low-cut neck.

singlet

vest; sleeveless garment with a low-cut neck, often worn underneath a shirt


saddleback

The young bird had the plumage of the saddleback, not the even chestnut of the jackbird, although its plumage was rather duller than that of the adult.

1959, Robert Adams Wilson, Bird Islands of New Zealand, page 67:

(New Zealand) A passerine bird of the genus Philesturnus.


mullock

en-noun

mullock (usually uncountable, plural mullocks)

(Australia, New Zealand, mining) Mining waste or ore processing waste:

(Australia, New Zealand, mining) Overburden: waste material generated while searching for minerals or while mining, such as when sinking a shaft.

1875, New Zealand House of Representatives, Appendix to the Journals of the House of Representatives of New Zealand, Volume 2, page 30,
The gold, both in the quartz and mullock, is very fine, and, owing to the soft and ferruginous nature of the stuff, specks can but very rarely be seen during working.

He stopped and took up a handful of mullock. The stones clattered on the coffin; the mud remained in his hand.

1938, Xavier Herbert, chapter X, in Capricornia, page 167:

On certain days, when hot currents shimmered off Oyster's Reef, we would detect the chalk-dust of the mullock heaps, acrid; or, from the opal mines themselves, the ghastly fug of the tunnels and shafts.

1996, Janette Turner Hospital, Oyster, paperback edition, Virago Press, page 4:

The company is considering a site at Mandurang Valley and two others near its mine in Kangaroo Flat, south-west of Bendigo, for a mullock heap that could reach 21 metres over 25 years.

2003 October 15, “Public to Have a Say on Waste Dumping”, in ABC News, Australian Broadcasting Corporation:

(Australia, New Zealand, mining) Tailings: waste rock from which the wanted gold, minerals, opal, etc., has been extracted.


taipo

They are called taipos, or devils. If a Maori went fishing or birding between them in the Maungapakeha Valley, he might fail to get either birds or eels. The reason was that the Tinui taipo was angry, and would say to the Maungapakeha taipo, “This man has offended me; he shall catch no more eels or birds to-day.”

1905. Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New Zealand 1868-1961, vol. 38, page 132


charter school

(US, New Zealand, Alberta) A school that receives government funding but operates independently of the established state school system in which it is located, and in some cases is privately owned.


kamp

Spelling variant of camp (“homosexual”).

Finally we found the Western Park, a scungy unpopular pub then, which agreed to allow kamp girls to drink there.

1990, Julia Penelope, Sarah Valentine, Finding the Lesbians: Personal Accounts from Around the World, page 74:

It was 1961 and the kamp girls' scene had grown larger. Many Maori had begun moving to the cities, and among them were not only many more Maori drag queens but also Maori kamp girls.

1992, Stephan Likosky, Coming Out, page 264:

(New Zealand, historical) lesbian (in Maori communities)


bikie

From bike (“short for motorbike”) + -ie (“diminutive suffix”).

suffix

A luxury waterfront flat believed to be owned by a Hells Angels bikie in Sydney was searched by police this afternoon.

2008 February 19, Dylan Welch, Sydney Morning Herald:

What so you're a bikie now?

2018 October 9, “Clean Slate”, in Wentworth:

(slang, Australia, New Zealand) A motorcyclist who is a member of a club; a biker.


kia ora

/ˌkiː.ʌˈɔːɹ.ə/

(New Zealand, informal) Used as a greeting.

(New Zealand) Expressing good will or gratitude.


POETS day

POETS days (plural)
poets day (alternative)
poets' day (alternative)

Probably 20th century British; derived from the acronym Piss Off (or Push Off) Early, Tomorrow's Saturday or perhaps earlier Piss Off (or Push Off) Early, Today's Saturday.

He was about to walk out the door when Malika came in with the weighty, leatherbound Consejo book that recorded the Board minutes. Alex′s heart sank. Malika looked surprised.
‘Malika, it′s POETS day. Time to go home.’
‘POETS day?’
‘Yes. Piss Off Early, Tomorrow′s Saturday.’

2002, M. J. Lynley, Malika, Mithrandir Books, UK, page 177

‘It′s poets′ day,’ said one of the crew. ‘Poets′ day?’ said Tony incredulously. ‘In Leeds?!?’ ‘Yes, POETS — Piss Off Early Tomorrow′s Saturday.’

2003, Richard Eyre, National Service: Diary of a Decade at the National Theatre, page 14:

‘Check your computer in about an hour′s time. But be warned – POETS day, meaning the CID cupboard might be a bit on the Mother Hubbard side.’
‘Appreciate anything you can get for us, Stan. Happy trails.’ Rebus clicked the phone shut. ‘POETS day,’ he reminded Siobhan.
‘Piss Off Early, Tomorrow′s Saturday,’ she recited.

2006, Ian Rankin, The Naming of the Dead, published 2008, unnumbered page:

(humorous, UK, Australia, New Zealand) Friday, the last day of the working week.


wharfie

“It’s a twenty-four-hour stoppage,” he said. “The wharfies went to the Arbitration Court for another pound a week for something or other, and they didn’t get it, so they’ve stopped work for a day to show their displeasure […]”

1952, Neville Shute, chapter 9, in The Far Country, London: Heinemann:

One night, soon after the battle of the Coral Sea, the US transport ship Shenandoah steamed up the Brisbane River to the wharves at Hamilton. She tied up just before eleven o′clock and at midnight a fresh shift of wharfies began unloading her cavernous holds.

2000, David Crookes, Someday Soon, unnumbered page:

But a group of wharfies rushed the ballot box, opened it, and ripped up some voting slips and threw others over a fence.

2008, Andrew Faulkner, Arthur Blackburn, VC: An Australian Hero, His Men, and Their Two World Wars, page 152:

In Fremantle the wharfies were crucial to my preselection. Gordon Harris was the secretary of the Fremantle wharfies, and we got on amicably until he decided to stand against me in 1958.

2009, Kim Edward Beazley, Father of the House: The Memoirs of Kim E. Beazley, page 131:

(Australia, New Zealand, informal, colloquial) A wharf worker: synonym of dockworker.


pawa

1912, Katherine Mansfield, The Woman at the Store, from "Selected Short Stories"
One little patch was divided off by pawa shells […]

(New Zealand) An edible univalve mollusc of the genus Haliotis, having a shell lined with mother-of-pearl.

ourmel collective noun ourmelenn singular


swagman

From swag (“items stolen by a thief; unlawfully obtained goods; (Australia, New Zealand) bundle of personal items carried by a tramp, traveller, etc.”) + man.

compound

And then the swagman was such a companionable little fellow, and told such funny little yarns, and sung so many snatches of odd songs whilst he was at work that once or twice the old man relaxed the cross expression of his facial muscles, and allowed himself to be betrayed into a grim smile, and at last suffered himself to be drawn into conversation, although his answers were short and snappish.

1865 November 18, Robert P. Whitworth, “Mary Summers: A Romance of the Australian Bush”, in The Australian Journal: A Weekly Record of Literature, Science, and the Arts, volume I, number 12, Melbourne, Vic., Sydney, N.S.W.: Clarson, Massina, and Co., […], published 1866, →OCLC, chapter XVIII (The New Hut), page 177, column 2:

Then the bells struck up for church, and the streets became crowded with well-dressed, warmly-clothed people, hurrying to their various places of worship, and casting glances of pitying curiosity at the two miserable, half-drowned swagmen as they passed.

1867 September 14, “a swagman”, “In Forma Pauperis”, in The Australian Journal: A Weekly Record of Literature, Science, and the Arts, volume III, number 107, Melbourne, Vic.: William Clarson and Albert Massina, […]; Sydney, N.S.W.: Joseph T. B. Gibbs and Joseph T. Shallard, […], published 1866, →OCLC, page 44, column 2:

[T]he class who exercise the most depressing influence on these rates, little as the unhappy men think themselves so, will be found to consist of idlers and swagmen.

1869 December, “The Australian Farmer”, in The Farmer’s Magazine, volume XXXVI (Third Series; volume LXVI overall), number 6, London: Rogerson and Tuxford, […], →OCLC, page 490, column 2:

Some men, under this plea of "wanting a job," are merely travelling from one part of the country to another for private reasons, and they pick up meat, bread, and tea at each station they pass. [...] We have already remarked that these bush- or swagmen carry "swags," i.e. a blanket made up into a roll six feet in length; the two ends lashed together making the whole resemble one huge horse-collar: this is carried either hanging from one shoulder or resting on the head and back like a coalheaver's pad.

1872, George S[myth] Baden-Powell, “Wayfarers”, in New Homes for the Old Country. A Personal Experience of the Political and Domestic Life, the Industries, and the Natural History of Australia and New Zealand, London: Richard Bentley and Son, […], →OCLC, page 122:

Oh! there once was a swagman camped in a Billabong, / Under the shade of a Coolabah tree; / And he sang as he looked at his old billy boiling, / "Who'll come a-waltzing Matilda with me?"

1895 August (date composed), A[ndrew] B[arton (“Banjo”)] Paterson, “Waltzing Matilda: (Carrying a Swag.)”, in The Collected Verse of A. B. Paterson: […], Sydney, N.S.W.: Angus & Robertson, published 1921 (1965 printing), →OCLC, page 213:

She was not afraid of horsemen; but swagmen, going to, or worse, coming from the dismal, drunken little township, a day′s journey beyond, terrified her. One had called at the house today, and asked for tucker.

1902, Barbara Baynton, “The Chosen Vessel”, in Bush Studies (The Greenback Library; 5), London: Duckworth & Co., […], →OCLC, page 143:

In his prose works Landlopers and Knocking Round, [John Le Gay] Brereton penned affectionate portraits of shearers, swagmen and farmers' wives, based on people he had met on his walks.

2007, Melissa Harper, “The Bush, My Lover”, in The Ways of the Bushwalker: On Foot in Australia, Sydney, N.S.W.: University of New South Wales Press, →ISBN, page 100:

The policeman thought it best to surprise the man, since he might be armed, so he disguised himself as a swagman and pounced as the man returned from his bridge-painting job.

2009, Bronwyn Sell, “John Caffrey, c. 1850–87”, in Law Breakers & Mischief Makers: 50 Notorious New Zealanders, [U.S.A.]: ReadHowYouWant.com, published 2010, →ISBN, page 72:

(Australia, New Zealand, historical) A man who travels around with a swag (“bundle of personal items”); specifically, an itinerant person, often seeking work in exchange for food and lodging.

boemelaar

person who travels around with a swag; specifically, an itinerant person, often seeking work in exchange for food and lodging


potato chip

I'll take a potato chip, and eat it!

2007 December 8, “目線 [Glare]”, in デスノート [Death Note], spoken by Light Yagami (Brad Swaile), Ocean Productions, via Adult Swim:

(Canada, US, Australia, Singapore, Philippines, Hong Kong, New Zealand) A potato crisp, a thin slice of potato that has been fried.


pikelet

Derived from Welsh bara pyglyd (“pitchy [i.e. dark or sticky] bread”), later shortened simply to pyglyd. The early 17th century lexicographer, Randle Cotgrave, spoke of "our Welsh barrapycleds". The word spread to the West Midlands of England, where it was anglicised to picklets and then to pikelets.

der

2005, Christine Manfield, Charlie Trotter (foreword), Spice: Recipes to Delight the Senses, Penguin Group Australia, republished 2008, Periplus, Singapore, page 140,
To cook the pikelets, heat a non-stick skillet and oil lightly, then pour the Pikelet Mixture into 6 oiled egg rings. Cook over moderate heat until bubbles start to appear in the batter, then flip the pikelets over and cook the other side, removing the egg rings as you do so.

2006, Jude Blereau, Wholefood: Heal... Nourish... Delight, Murdoch Books, Australia, page 62,
By soaking the batter overnight the grain is broken down, which results in a softer and more digestible pancake or pikelet.
When made with wholemeal flours and low levels of fat, pikelets and pancakes are much denser than traditional ones.

2007, Jane Lawson, Grub: Favourite Food Memories, Murdoch Books, Australia, page 23,
To make the pikelets, sift the flour, sugar, and a pinch of salt into a bowl and make a well in the centre. Lightly whisk the eggs and milk together, then pour into the well. Whisk to a smooth batter and allow to rest for 15 minutes.

(Australia, New Zealand) A thick type of sweet pancake.


blackwash

en-noun

blackwash (countable and uncountable, plural blackwashes)

From black + -wash or black + wash (depending on sense).

(slang, New Zealand) A whitewash victory for any New Zealand national sporting team.


bluetongue

bluetongue (countable and uncountable, plural bluetongues)

bluetongues (plural)
blue-tongue (alternative)

(countable, Australia, New Zealand, colloquial) Someone who is as sleepy as a lizard; a lazy person.


skivvy

Then dark blood squirts from a little hole in Sergeant Gerheim's chest. The red blood blossoms into his white skivvy shirt like a beautiful flower.

1979, Gustav Hasford, The Short-Timers, New York: Bantam Books, published 1980, →ISBN, page 30:

I put my wetsuit and skivvy on a tree to dry, and laid out my other gear on some grass.

1998, Tom Byron, The History of Spearfishing and Scuba Diving in Australia, page 191:

‘He looks so good. He shouldn′t be allowed to wear a black skivvy. Doesn′t he have the most amazing muscles?’

2005, Randa Abdel-Fattah, Does My Head Look Big in This?, page 224:

The button-down shirts and plain coloured skivvies were replaced by beads, fringed shawls and loose fitting Asian-style tops.

2006, Iain McIntyre, Tomorrow Is Today: Australia in the Psychedelic Era, 1966-1970, page 41:

(US, Australia, New Zealand) A close-fitting, long-sleeved T-shirt with a rolled collar.


pig dog

pig dogs (plural)
pigdog (alternative)
pig-dog (alternative)

In Sense 2, a calque of German Schweinehund. Taj Burrow offers two (perhaps fanciful) explanations for Sense 3: that surfers tend to assume a dog-like expression when in this stance (page 119) or that the stance is low and sturdy like a dog (glossary page 171).

The pig-dogs are of rather a mongrel breed, partaking largely of the bull-dog, but mixed with the cross of mastiff and greyhound, which forms the New South Wales kangaroo-dog.

1908, Edward Jerningham Wakefield, Robert Stout, Adventure in New Zealand from 1839 to 1844, published 2010, page 350:

1961, Royal Society of New Zealand, Transactions of the Royal Society of New Zealand: Zoology, Volume 2, page 221,
Pig dogs have a have a particularly high incidence of E. granulosus and T. hydatigena compared with infections in farm gogs and [this] may be related to the eating of infected sheep carrion rather than wild pigs.

These so-called ‘pig dogs’ chase after the wild pigs, often through rough terrain, and bring them down so that the following hunter can shoot the quarry. There is normally more than one dog involved in the hunt. The pig dogs tend to be powerful crossbreds with Great Dane, Bull Mastiff and/or Pit Bull Terrier blood and sometimes with a dash of Irish Wolfhound or Scottish Deerhound to give them more speed and height.

2009, Jane Duckworth, Not Every Dog Has His Day: The Treatment of Dogs in Australia, page 162:

2009, Evan McHugh, Birdsville, Penguin Group, EasyRead Large Edition, page 139,
Zeus was Ben′s pig dog, an Irish wolfhound crossed with other breeds of hunting dog.

(Australia, New Zealand) A dog bred to hunt wild pigs, typically based on breeds such as Staffordshire Terrier and English Bull Terrier.


sook

sooks (plural)
suck (alternative)
suke (alternative)

Probably from suck. Compare sukey (attested 1838), Sucky (1844), Suke (1850); sook from 1906.


sook

Probably from dialectal suck. Compare 19th century British slang sock (“overgrown baby”), British dialect suckerel (“suckling foal, unweaned child”), Canadian suck (“crybaby”), Canadian suck (“sycophant”). From 1933.

Don't be such a sook.

You must think I'm a sook, hey? Here I am complaining about my dad's job and my curfew and your dad cheated on your mum. You put things into perspective for me.

2006, Randa Abdel-Fattah, Ten Things I Hate About Me, unnumbered page:

‘What a sook! Look at her cry!’
‘Yeah, look at the Abo cry!’

2007, Jan Teagle Kapetas, “Lubra Lips, Lubra Lips: Reflections on my Face”, in Maureen Perkins, editor, Visibly Different: Face, Place and Race in Australia, page 31:

Only sooks ask guides how far there is to go.

2008, Kieran Kelly, Aspiring: Mountain climbing is no cure for middle age, Pan MacMillan Australia, page 233:

(Australia, Atlantic Canada, New Zealand, slang, derogatory) A crybaby, a complainer, a whinger; a shy or timid person, a wimp; a coward.

I was so upset that I went home and had a sook about it.

‘Have a sook! Have a sook!’, they'd all yell. But that time I didn't go outside to cry.

2002, June Duncan Owen, Mixed Matches: Interracial Marriage in Australia, University of New South Wales Press, page 87:

(Australia, Atlantic Canada, New Zealand, slang) A sulk or complaint; an act of sulking.


on about

What are you on about?

They were on about some kind of UFO conspiracy theory.

(chiefly UK, Australia, New Zealand, informal) Speaking about, talking of.


saveloy

saveloys (plural)
savaloy (alternative)
savoloy (alternative)

From a corruption of cervelat (“Swiss smoked beef or pork sausage”) or French cervelas (“type of thick, short sausage”) (perhaps influenced by Savoy (“historical region in western Europe now shared between modern France, Italy, and Switzerland”)), both from Old French cervelat, from Italian cervellata (compare Italian cervelletto (“cerebellum”), cervello (“brain”), probably from the fact that the sausage was originally made from pork brains), from Old Milanese Lombard zervelada, from Latin cerebellum (“brain; little brain”), from cerebrum (“brain”) (from Proto-Italic *kerazrom, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ḱerh₂- (“head, top; horn”)) + -ellum (suffix forming diminutives).

der

Savoloys. TAKE ſix pounds of young pork, free it from bone and ſkin, and ſalt it with one ounce of ſalt-petre, and a pound of common ſalt, for two days; [...]

1788, [Hannah] Glasse, “Of Hogs-puddings, Sausages, &c.”, in The Art of Cookery, Made Plain and Easy; […], new edition, London: […] J[ohn] Rivington and Sons, […], →OCLC, page 257:

Savaloys, or Cervelas. [...] Fill the gut, and bake the savaloys for half an hour in a moderate oven.

[1810], [Esther Copley], “Stuffings, Seasonings, Forcemeat, &c.”, in The Cook’s Complete Guide, on the Principles of Frugality, Comfort, and Elegance […], London: George Virtue, […], →OCLC, page 394:

When I dined regularly and handsomely, I had a saveloy and a penny-loaf, or a fourpenny plate of red beef from a cook's shop; [...]

1849 May – 1850 November, Charles Dickens, “I Begin Life on My Own Account, and Don’t Like It”, in The Personal History of David Copperfield, London: Bradbury & Evans, […], published 1850, →OCLC, page 115:

GEORGE PUCILL was indicted for stealing, on the 13th of April 15 savoloys, value 1s. 3d.; and ¾lb. tripe, value 2d., the goods of George Anderson, his master. George Anderson. [...] I saw some savoloys projecting from a hole in his smock-frock—I then found fifteen more round his body and over his arms— [...] Thomas Arnold (police constable H. 127) I took the prisoner, and found the tripe and savoloys—he said he was going to take them home for his supper. (The prisoner received a good character, and the prosecutor promised still to employ him.)

1839 May 16, Henry Buckler, “London and Middlesex Cases”, in Central Criminal Court. Minutes of Evidence, Taken in Shorthand, volume XII, London: George Hebert, […], →OCLC, paragraph 1540, page 63:

"She always has a savaloy for supper, and I'm going to fetch it, and the beer." [...] [H]e walked arm-in-arm with the golden-tressed creature who now carried the savaloy for her mother in a piece of old newspaper!

1855 May, “The Lamplighter: A Model Story for Young Authors”, in Harper’s New Monthly Magazine, volume X, number LX, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], →OCLC, chapter II, page 818:

Saveloys! After all, there's nothing like saveloys, is there? Talk about your partridge, your venison, and your 'are, why, I've tasted saveloys as 'ud give 'em all a start if it came to a question of game.

1882, Henry Arthur Jones, “The Silver King”, in Russell Jackson, editor, Plays by Henry Arthur Jones: The Silver King, The Case of the Rebellious Susan, The Liars (British and American Playwrights, 1750–1920), Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, New York, N.Y.: Cambridge University Press, published 1982, →ISBN, act III, scene ii, page 70:

My dinner consists in rotation of one third of a pound of bacon, cooked over the gas (twopence halfpenny), or two saveloys (twopence), or two pieces of fried fish (twopence), or a quarter of an eightpenny tin of Chicago beef (twopence). Any one of these, with a due allowance of bread and water, makes a most substantial meal.

1895, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, chapter XIII, in The Stark Munro Letters: […], London: Longmans, Green, and Co., →OCLC, page 274:

When a local butcher gave her a party savoloy (a highly "treated" sausage) she became so hyperactive for the next six hours, she threw tantrum after tantrum.

1987, Elizabeth Baker, Elton Baker, The Unmedical Book: How to Conquer Disease, Lose Weight, Avoid Suffering & Save Money, [Portland, Or.]: Drelwood Publications, →ISBN, page 103:

[...] I used to go in the early mornings to shoo the hens from their nests to get the brown eggs with the dark speckles that the cook would fry with saveloy sausages which my grandmother had ordered while the eggs were still warm [...]

1995, John Canter, Aran Song, Indreabhán, County Galway: Cló Iar-Chonnacht, →ISBN, page 42:

If you pushed a little further up through the crowd you would see, on the other side, an old bloke with gingery hair who wore a long, thin, ochre-coloured coat, sitting there all day on a high wooden stool shouting: ‘Savaloys! Savaloys! Savaloys!’

2004, Bryan Magee, chapter 5, in Clouds of Glory: A Hoxton Childhood, London: Pimlico, →ISBN, page 59:

He's free, you idiot, Sheephead Morton said, parting his own wet hair with his saveloy fingers and putting his slouch hat back on.

2013, Richard Flanagan, chapter 8, in The Narrow Road to the Deep North (A Borzoi Book), New York, N.Y.: Alfred A[braham] Knopf, published 2014, →ISBN, page 171:

(chiefly Australia, British, New Zealand) A seasoned and smoked pork sausage, normally purchased ready-cooked.


washhouse

washhouses (plural)
wash house (alternative)

From Old English wæsċhūs, equivalent to wash + house.

(New Zealand) A room in a house used for washing laundry; a utility room.


Sunday roast

(British, Canada, Australia, New Zealand) A traditional roast dinner, eaten on a Sunday, consisting of roast meat and trimmings.


hogget

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-hogget.wav

From Middle English hogget, from Anglo-Norman hoget and an Anglo-Latin hogettus.

They were kept in separate flocks; first there were the hoggets, then the oldest of the younger lambs and lastly the very young ones all kept apart from one another […]

1900, Samuel Butler, transl. The Odyssey, Book IX., page 113

(chiefly UK, New Zealand) A young colt or sheep of either gender from about 9 to 18 months of age (until it cuts 2 teeth).

Jungschaf

a young sheep from about 9 to 18 months of age

(chiefly UK, New Zealand) The meat of a young sheep.


gruds

I need a new pair of gruds.

(slang, New Zealand) Underpants, underwear.


desto

When you arrive at the terminus, remember to change your desto.

(informal, Australia, Singapore, New Zealand) a headsign; a destination sign: a moveable or electronic display mounted on a bus or other public transport vehicle to indicate its intended route and destination.


Frenchie

I dreamt that Ruairi Quinn was smokin' marijuana in the Dail. Barry Desmond handing Frenchies out to scuts in Fianna Fail.

1985, “Delerium Tremens” (track 2), in Ordinary Man, performed by Christy Moore:

Gone are the terms we used in our youth the frenchies, frangers, rubbers, joes, french letters, gumboots, rubbers, johnnies, parachutes and plastic fantastics — these days they're just condoms.

2002 February 7, Janine Burgess, “Armour against pleasure?”, in The Timaru Herald:

The poster was designed by Aboriginal health workers in northern Queensland for use in remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, where the slogan was sometimes modified to ‘Use Frenchies’ because the word ‘condom’ was not in common use.

2004, Paul Sendziuk, Learning to Trust: Australian Responses to AIDS:

(UK, Ireland, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, slang) A condom; abbreviated form of French letter.


bullocky

Mother looked as though she were having a fit. She was jumping up and down, running to snatch up the long-handled broom, swearing like a bullocky.

1972, Oodgeroo Noonuccal, Stradbroke Dreamtime, Angus & Robertson, 1992, page 32:

He could yarn with the bullockies for hours.

1985, Peter Carey, Illywhacker, Faber and Faber, published 2003, page 21:

Through the bush, the shouts of the bullockies and the cracking of their savage wattlestick whips reverberated as the teams slowly made their way. The bullocky′s whip was over four metres long with a handle of nearly three metres.

1993, Mark St Leon, The Wizard of the Wire: The Story of Con Colleano, page 18:

In so doing, the bullocky assumes a larger than life dimension and passes into the realm of myth and Australian legend.
The bullocky in Australia has vanished into the past and old methods have given way to new - ‘grass is across the waggon-tracks and plough strikes bone beneath the grass’.

2006, Jaydeep Sarangi, Binod Mishra, Explorations In Australian Literature, page 107:

The bullock driver, or bullocky, was an important part of the rural labour force in the era before cars and, in some places, for long after.[…]A good bullocky could get work just about anywhere.

2010, Graham Seal, Great Australian Stories: Legends, Yarns and Tall Tales, page 249:

(Australia and New Zealand colloquial, now historical) A person (usually a man) who drives a cart pulled by a team of bullocks.


groper

bass groper

wreckfish; Polyprion americanus, syn. Polyprion moeone

(New Zealand) hapuku wreckfish (Polyprion oxygeneios)


sharpie

The bird looked of a similar character to a knot/pec sandpiper/sharpie, but the exact size was difficult to judge[.]

2009 August 26, Rewi, “Help me Identify a Wader please”, in Birding NZ, archived from the original on 2025-01-01:

I went back into my photos, and yes, on 13 Nov, I photographed both Sharpie and the Pec.

2019 November 21, Stan Jarzynski, “Possible Pectoral Sandpiper”, in canberrabirds mailing list:

sharp-tailed sandpiper
sharp-tailed sandpiper#English

(birdwatching, Australia, New Zealand) Clipping of sharp-tailed sandpiper.


good as gold

In the sense of high and enduring value, with literal origins in trade (currency exchange and barter), where any given currency or commodity may be worth as much as gold or hyperbolically described as such.

(of an asset, especially New Zealand) Of high and enduring value.


gonk

A proprietary name of arbitrary formation.

I'm going off to have a gonk.

(New Zealand, military, slang) A sleep; a nap.


Slip Slop Slap

For example in Australia, the ‘Slip Slop Slap' programme (Slip on a shirt, Slop on sunscreen, Slap on a hat) has resulted in a marked reduction in the total of sunburns during the summer.

1999, Gabriel A. Kune, Reducing the Odds: A Manual for the Prevention of Cancer, page 190:

(Australia, New Zealand, colloquial) a health campaign in Australia and New Zealand exhorting people to "slip on a shirt, slop on sunscreen, and slap on a hat" when they go out into the sun in order to prevent skin cancer.


the jig is up

head

the jig is up (simple past the jig was up)

the jig was up (past)
jig's up (alternative)
one's jig is up (alternative)
one's jig's up (alternative)
the jig's up (alternative)

Jig is an old term for a lively dance, and in the Elizabethan era the word also became slang for a practical joke or a trick. This idiom derives from this obsolete slang word.

We knew then the jig was up, and it was no grin matter for us.

When I first told 'em how the jig was up with us, that the British were going to have the land, without any fighting about it, I never see fellows so mad before in my life, unless it was Major Eaton at Washington when he sot out to flog Mr. Ingham.

1833, Seba Smith (as Jack Downing), The life and writings of Major Jack Downing, of Downingville, away down East in the State of Maine, Lilly; Wait; Colman & Holden, page 176:

After I had returned home in the spring of 1893 from Washington, where I saw so many gray-haired men who had held high elective office begging for the crumbs from Cleveland's table, I gave my wife an account of what I observed, and told her that when the jig was up for me I would hasten back to Missouri to begin the practice of law once more and be a man among men.

1920, Champ Clark, My Quarter Century of American Politics, Harper & brothers, page 96:

The universe works in strange ways: just when you think the jig is up, you get a second chance.

2007, Mary Newport, in Jerry Newport and Mary Newport, Mozart and the Whale: An Asperger's Love Story, Simon and Schuster, →ISBN, page 248:

(Australia, New Zealand, US, idiomatic) An expression used to mean "We have been caught out and have no defense", or if spoken to a person who has just been found out as the perpetrator of an offense, where it means "You've been discovered".


mudflats

en-noun

mudflats pl (normally plural, singular mudflat)

mudflat (singular)
mud-flats (alternative)
mud flats (alternative)

(New Zealand) Synonym of bottomland: lowland plains and/or farms.


fucken

(Australia, New Zealand, Philippines, US, slang, informal, vulgar) Alternative spelling of fucking.


chur

Never a dull moment much love to you axe as well. Chur my cuz. [On hearing of the death of Norm Berryman.]

2015 June 23, Brendon Egan, quoting Slade McFarland, “Norman Berryman Emotional Tribute by John Akurangi”, in Stuff.co.nz, archived from the original on 2025-01-24:

A parting salutation: bye, see you later.


chemist's

Clipping of chemist's shop, in the British use of chemist as a synonym for pharmacist.

(British, Australia, New Zealand) Synonym of pharmacy, especially when run as a small standalone general store.


boncer

en-adj

boncer (comparative more boncer, superlative most boncer)

more boncer (comparative)
most boncer (superlative)
bonzer (alternative)

In marble sense: British dialect (north Hampshire), probably variant of bouncer (“a large thing”). In slang sense (= remarkable, excellent): replaced by voiced variant bonzer.

The Trout boys had often spent the day with the Burnells in town, but now that they lived in this fine house and boncer garden they were inclined to be very friendly.

1918 June, Katherine Mansfield [pseudonym; Kathleen Mansfield Murry], “Prelude”, in Bliss and Other Stories, London: Constable & Company, published 1920, →OCLC, chapter 8, page 45:

(Australia, New Zealand, informal, obsolete) Remarkable; wonderful.


boncer

(New Zealand, dated) A kind of large marble; a bonce.

‘Of course the hero of the meeting was A.H. Holder, and let me tell you he is a ‘boncer’.

1897 April 3, The Auckland Star, Supplement, page 2:

(New Zealand, Australia, informal, obsolete) Something remarkable, wonderful, excellent, etc.


straight dinkum

My precious, please don′t ever send me a penny of extra money. That is very straight dinkum.

1977, Katherine Mansfield, The Letters and Journals of Katherine Mansfield: A Selection, page 96:

(Australia, New Zealand, slang) Genuine, honest, fair and square.


straight dinkum

“Say, cross my heart straight dinkum.”

This morning, I promise cross my heart straight Dinkum (is that right?) will be the last, the very last, of our awful moments.

1983, John Middleton Murry, The Letters of John Middleton Murry to Katherine Mansfield, page 178:

[…]she said scornfully, “One of the girls gave it to you. Tell me at once who it was.”
“Cripes, no, straight dinkum. I just picked it up.”

1990, Norman Lindsay, edited by Keith Wingrove, Norman Lindsay on Art, Life, and Literature, page 41:

(Australia, New Zealand, slang) Truly, honestly.


glad wrap

From Glad Wrap, a trade mark owned by the Union Carbide Corporation.

‘My best one was using a Coles bread cake,’ says Ngareta Rossell. ‘You could cut it in half, take out the centre, put in a phone or charger wrapped in glad wrap, put the top back on and wrap it all up in glad wrap so the guards could see what it was.’

2008, Margot O'Neill, Blind Conscience, page 97:

Cover with a piece of glad wrap or a large tea towel and let stand in a warm place until doubled in size, 1 to 2 hours.

2010, Lukas Volger, Veggie Burgers Every Which Way, page 118:

Wrap each portion in glad wrap and place in freezer.

2011, Patricia Murray-Chute, From Dinosaur to Dynamite: The Secret of Joyful Sex, page 123:

(Australia, New Zealand, sometimes US) Thin plastic film used as a wrap for food, etc.


broad church

The Liberal party in Australia is often described as being a broad church, encompassing conservatives and radicals, wets and dries.

If representation and recruitment is an objective, self-styled mavericks like Kelly and his Queensland sidekick George Christensen have some utility. This duo operates like an extended wink and a nudge; they tell voters the Coalition is a broad enough church to be a home for fringe views.

2021 February 2, Katharine Murphy, The Guardian:

(UK, New Zealand and Australia, politics) A wide scope of political or religious philosophies and ideas.


stinge

Don’t be such a stinge and let me try some of your ice cream, mate!

(Australia, New Zealand) A person who is seen to have a stingy demeanour or who lacks generosity.