mufti

en-noun

mufti (countable and uncountable, plural muftis)

muftis (plural)
muftee (alternative archaic)
mufty (alternative archaic)

Borrowed from Ottoman Turkish مفتی (müfti), from Arabic مُفْتِي (muftī, “fatwa-deliverer”, literally “deliverer of formal opinion”).

der

He had a suit of summer mufti, and a broad-brimmed blue beaver hat looped with leaves broken from the hedgerows in the lanes, and a Leander scarf tucked full of flowers: loosestrife, meadowrue, orchis, ragged-robin.

1919, Ronald Firbank, Valmouth, hardback edition, Duckworth, page 91:

The innate reluctance of the Englishman to make himself conspicuous has stood him here in good stead. Except on special occasions, the British officers are almost always in mufti.

1921 October, Maxwell H. H. Macartney, “An Ex-Enemy in Berlin to-Day”, in The Atlantic:

The neutrality, however, causes some peculiar situations, such as that arising from the prohibition of uniforms other than those of the Eireann Defence Forces and the Diplomatic Corps. This would be simple if no one from Eire were a sailor, soldier, or airman in the British Forces, but thousands of them are, and as such they may not wear mufti unless on leave from the B.E.F.

1940 May, “The Irish Railways Today”, in Railway Magazine, page 295:

The sailors in mufti returned with 140 quarts of Bar's Leak, half of which was poured into the condenser.

2002 April 3, Dave Wilma, “First nuclear submarine U.S.S. Nautilus visits Seattle and crew secretly buys Bar's Leak on June 3, 1958”, in HistoryLink.org: Essay 3739:

(uncountable, Australia, British, New Zealand) A civilian dress when worn by a member of the military, or casual dress when worn by a pupil of a school who normally would wear uniform.


watershed

Compound of water + shed. Calque of German Wasserscheide.

(hydrology, UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand) The topographical boundary dividing two adjacent catchment basins, such as a ridge or a crest.

вададзе́л

boundary between adjacent catchment basins


barrister

From bar (a collective term for lawyers or the legal profession) and the suffix -ster.

Postmen, binmen, dock workers, even barristers are now on strike. Where will all this end?

2022 September 7, Philip Haigh, “Comment: More strikes and poor morale”, in RAIL, number 965, page 3:

(chiefly UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand) A lawyer with the right to speak and argue as an advocate in higher lawcourts.

адвока́т

lawyer with the right to speak as an advocate in higher lawcourts


boffin

Origin unknown; a number of possible etymologies have been suggested, but no conclusive evidence exists.
One strong theory conjectures a connection from the "Mr. Boffins" of English novels, such as in Dickens' Our Mutual Friend.

unknown

Origin unknown

koumák

(informal) person with specialized knowledge or skills

In fact, a fighting friend of mine said that he could hardly walk in any direction in this war without tumbling over a scientist who had got in the way. In the Royal Air Force, where the concentration of scientists is perhaps greatest, they have a pet name for them. They call them “Boffins.” Why, I do not know. I said to a young friend of mine in the Air Force, “Why do you call scientists ‘Boffins’?” He said, “I don’t know. What else would you call them?”

[1942 February 3, Henry T[homas] Tizard, “Parliamentary and Scientific Committee. Luncheon.”, in Journal of the Institute of Petroleum, volume 28, number 219, London: The Institute of Petroleum, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2018-09-30, page 58:

With a rare and beautiful ease one can now ring up a boffin, as I did the other day, and say: "As a price for not opposing our Parliamentary Powers for a new marshalling yard, the Council at X demands that the bridge over X Lane shall have 16 ft. 6 in. headroom. This means steepening our gradient from 1 in 70 to 1 in 65 for half a mile on a 20-chain curve. What difference will this make to the loads of Type "2", "3" and "4" diesels please?". Back comes the answer.

1960 April, G. F. Fiennes, “Unpunctuality - the cause and the cure”, in Trains Illustrated, page 244:

An essential difference between a boffin and a back room boy, as [Robert] Watson-Watts points out, is that the boffin does not stay in the back room but emerges to poke his nose into other peoples[’] business. It is quite wrong to use the word ‘boffin’ simply to describe a scientist or a technician; a boffin is essentially a middleman, a bridge between two worlds, […]

1991, R[obert] Hanbury Brown, “Radar and the Battle at Night”, in Boffin: A Personal Story of the Early Days of Radar, Radio Astronomy and Quantum Optics, New York, N.Y., Abingdon, Oxon.: Taylor & Francis Group, →ISBN, page 57:

He devoted six years to building the probe and, breaking with boffin tradition, transformed himself into an extroverted fundraiser to sell it to a public and government largely indifferent to space exploration. […] In fact, he's still busily rallying support for Beagle 2’s successor. Will he succeed? Can a lone boffin maintain a nation’s appreciation for exploration? [Colin] Pillinger could single-handedly determine whether the boffin remains a modest backroom boy or claims a lasting spot in the limelight.

2004 September, Nicole Dyer, “Rebirth of the Boffin”, in Mark Jannot, editor, Popular Science, volume 265, number 3, New York, N.Y.: Time4 Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 160, columns 2–3:

(Australia, New Zealand, British, Ireland, informal) An engineer or scientist, especially one engaged in technological or military research.

— Well, last year I used to have a friend Charley [Charley was in the top sets for English, mathematics and French] but this year he doesn't speak to me any more and every time I see him he's hanging around with boffins like. When I go round to his house, now and again, he's always got his 'O' level and 'A' level books open and he's always concentrating on his work. Hanging around with boffins. / — What are boffins? / — People who work. Stay in all the time. Never go out, go down the town or nothin. And always get good letters home and pats on the back by teachers.

1995, John Abraham, “Organizational Differentiation and Polarization: Setting, Social Class and Pupil Values”, in Divide and School: Gender and Class Dynamics in Comprehensive Education, London, Bristol, Pa.: The Falmer Press, Taylor & Francis, →ISBN, page 55:

The opportunities for producers in the interactive multimedia environment are boundless. The boffins writing software programs for interactive multimedia will not be the producers of corporate communications. They need today's producers to bring their communication skills to the interactive domain, […]

1995, Bob Turnbull, “Corporate Video”, in Tom Jeffrey, editor, Film Business: A Handbook for Film Producers, 2nd edition, North Ryde, N.S.W.: AFTRS Publications, published 1998, →ISBN, page 35:

(Australia, New Zealand, British, Ireland, informal, by extension) A person with specialized knowledge or skills, especially one who is socially awkward.

(loosely) an intellectual; a smart person.


car park

/ˈkɑɹ ˌpɑːɹk/

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, Hong Kong) An outdoor area or a building where cars may be parked.

(Australia, New Zealand) A rectangular section, usually marked by painted lines, designated for the parking of a single car.


parkie

Walking into the inner-city Brisbane suburb of West End one morning, I witnessed a group of Aboriginal “parkies” being moved on from a corner of the main road.

2018 April 9, Jack Latimore, “Indigenous people are being displaced again – by gentrification”, in The Guardian:

The health service was a sanctuary for Aboriginal people, especially the “parkies” – a young Roach among them – who were living on the nearby streets, many having gravitated to inner-city Melbourne to try to trace their families after years spent on reserves and missions.

2022 October 27, Sian Cain, “Archie Roach and Ruby Hunter to be celebrated with statue in Fitzroy”, in The Guardian:

(Australia, New Zealand, colloquial) An Aboriginal who sleeps rough in parks.


fire truck

fire trucks (plural)
firetruck (alternative)

(firefighting, US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand) A ladder truck, a vehicle used by firefighters to gain access to the upper stories of a building. Typically, a fire truck has a hydraulic system which operates a large, heavy-duty ladder mounted on top of the truck body, space for portable ladders to be stored and compartments for holding other tools that may be needed. Unlike a fire engine, trucks do not have pumps or carry water.


roundabout

From round + about [from early 20th c.].

what you lose on the swings you gain on the roundabouts

(chiefly UK, New Zealand, Ireland, Canada, Australia and sometimes US) A road junction at which traffic streams circularly around a central island.


sellotape

en-verb

sellotape (third-person singular simple present sellotapes, present participle sellotaping, simple past and past participle sellotaped)

sellotapes (present singular third-person)
sellotaping (participle present)
sellotaped (participle past)
sellotaped (past)

From genericized trademark Sellotape, from cello(phane) + tape. The spelling with S- was to avoid an existing trademark on the word Cellophane itself.

The door was slightly ajar, with a newspaper cartoon sellotaped to it:

2022, Liam McIlvanney, The Heretic, page 258:

(transitive, British, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand) To seal with adhesive tape.


sticking plaster

en-noun

sticking plaster (plural sticking plasters)

sticking plasters (plural)
stick plaster (alternative UK)

As I live, these covered parts of him were checkered with the same squares as his face; his back, too, was all over the same dark squares; he seemed to have been in a Thirty Years’ War, and just escaped from it with a sticking-plaster shirt.

1851, Herman Melville, Moby Dick, Chapter 3:

(New Zealand, British) An adhesive bandage used in dressing wounds


piss-up

. . . passed: all bullshitted up for the pictures or a piss-up in the town.

1950, Jocelyn Greene, The Goose Cathedral, The Bodley Head, page 14:

Last night a bunch of them turned out to a pub near Edgeware [sic] Road tube (where a few of them had helped treat the injured on the 7th), and we had a good old-fashioned piss-up courtesy of Europhobia's generous readers.

2005, Tim Worstall, 2005: Dispatches from the Blogosphere, The Friday Project, p 228

Therefore with the blessing of Lizzie (herself too upset to attend) Rupert had arranged a sort of pre-wake piss-up in the function room of his London club with a malt whisky tasting, several real ales on tap and a takeaway curry delivered.

(UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, vulgar, slang) A party where people consume alcohol.

couldn't organise a piss-up in a brewery


pisser

From Middle English pissere; equivalent to piss + -er (agent noun). The sense referring to a urinal formed from piss + -er (patient suffix).

(Australia, New Zealand, slang, mildly vulgar) An extremely amusing person or thing.


bangers and mash

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-bangers and mash.wav

(British, New Zealand, informal) A meal of sausages and mashed potato, usually with onions and gravy added.


daft

en-adj

daft (comparative dafter, superlative daftest)

dafter (comparative)
daftest (superlative)

From Middle English dafte, defte (“gentle; having good manners; humble, modest; awkward; dull; boorish”), from Old English dæfte (“accommodating; gentle, meek, mild”), from Proto-West Germanic *daftī (“fitting, suitable”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *dʰh₂ebʰ- (“fitting; to fit together”). Related to Old English dafnian, dafenian (“to be fitting, appropriate, or becoming”), Russian до́брый (dóbryj, “good”).
Compare silly which originally meant “blessed; good, innocent; pitiful; weak”, but now means “laughable or amusing through foolishness or a foolish appearance; mentally simple, foolish”.
Unrelated to, though perhaps influenced by, daff (“fool (n.); to be foolish (v.)”) (past form daffed).

неразумен

foolish, silly — see also foolish, silly

a daft idea

Thou art the daftest fuill that ever I saw. / Trows thou, man, be the law to get remeid / Of men of kirk? Na, nocht till thou be deid.

1602, David Lyndesay [i.e., David Lyndsay], Ane Satyre of the Thrie Estaits, in Commendation of Vertew and Vitvperation of Vyce (in Scots), Edinburgh: Printed be Robert Charteris, →OCLC; republished as Ane Satyre of the Thrie Estaits, in Commendation of Vertew and Vitvperation of Vyce (Early English Text Society, Original Series; no. 37), [London]: [Published for the Early English Text Society, by N[icholas] Trübner & Co.], [1869], →OCLC, page 451, lines 2008–2010:

You are the daftest fool that ever I saw. / Trust you, man, by the law to get a remedy / From men of the church? No, not till you are dead.

So that if a boor complains of a broken-head, or a beer-seller of a broken can, or a daft wench does but squeak loud enough to be heard above her breath, a soldier of honour shall be dragged, not before his own court-martial, who can best judge of and punish his demerits, but before a base mechanical burgo-master, who shall menace him with the rasp-house, the cord, and what not, as if he were one of their own mean, amphibious, twenty-breeched boors.

1819, Jedediah Cleishbotham [pseudonym; Walter Scott], chapter II, in Tales of My Landlord, Third Series. […], volume III (A Legend of Montrose), Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, […]; Hurst, Robinson, and Co. […], →OCLC, pages 188–189:

In case you haven't heard of them [the Taipings], I must tell you that they were another of those incredible phenomena that made China the topsy-turvey mess it was, like some fantastic land from Gulliver, where everything was upside down and out of kilter. Talk about moonbeams from cucumbers; the Taipings were even dafter than that.

1985, George MacDonald Fraser, chapter 1, in Flashman and the Dragon: From the Flashman Papers, 1860, London: Collins Harvill, →ISBN; republished New York, N.Y.: Plume, 1987, →ISBN:

You haven't exactly been playing the master tactician through all this, but that seems the daftest course you could possibly have taken.

1990, Iain Pears, The Raphael Affair, London: Gollancz, →ISBN; republished New York, N.Y.: Harper, 2014, →ISBN, page 22:

(chiefly British, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, informal) Foolish, silly, stupid.

"Ow, he is just a wood harum-scarum creature, that wad never take to his studies;—daft, sir, clean daft." / […] / "[W]owff—a wee bit by the East-Nook or sae; it's a common case—the ae half of the warld thinks t'other daft. I have met with folks in my day, that thought I was daft mysell;[…]" / "I cannot make out a word of his cursed brogue," said the Cumbrian justice; "can you, neighbour—eh? What can he mean by deft?" / "He means mad", said the party appealed to, thrown off his guard by impatience of this protracted discussion.

1824 June, [Walter Scott], “Darsie Latimer’s Journal, in Continuation. Sheet 2.”, in Redgauntlet, […], volume II, Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co., →OCLC, pages 143–144:

The boy gathered himself up, shook his shaggy head, and, said, in a piteous tone: 'Davie's daft!' 'Davie's daft!' He then kicked the poor idiot till his cries attracted the attention of the guests, some of whom immediately came to the spot: […]

1843 April, “The Vale of Glencoe: A Tale of Scotland”, in The Knickerbocker, or New-York Monthly Magazine, volume XXI, number 4, New York, N.Y.: Published by John Allen, […], →OCLC, page 339:

‘It’s a lee [lie],’ says the man; ‘she’s either drunk or daft.’ / ‘Me drunk, you ill-tongued vagabond!’ says my Auntie Kirsty, who couldna bear such a reproach on her good name, ‘I’m a’ but blackfasting this day from either meat or drink; you had better no meddle wi’ my character.’

1876, S[arah] R. Whitehead, “On the Wrong Coach”, in Daft Davie and Other Sketches of Scottish Life and Character, London: Hodder and Stoughton, […], →OCLC, page 220:

(chiefly British, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, informal) Crazy, insane, mad.

побъркан

crazy, insane — see also crazy, insane, mad


flatter

From flat (“dwelling, apartment”) + -er (residency suffix).

af

(British, New Zealand, slang) Someone who lives in a rented flat.


flannel

en-noun

flannel (countable and uncountable, plural flannels)

flannels (plural)
flannen (alternative dialectal)
flanan (alternative Scotland)
flanning (alternative Scotland)
flanen (alternative Scotland)

zh-l

法蘭絨／法兰绒 (fǎlánróng)

⇒ Chinese: 法蘭絨／法兰绒 (fǎlánróng)

→ Danish: flannel

desctree

→ French: flanelle
→ Catalan: franel·la
→ Dutch: flanel
Afrikaans: flanel

→ German: Flanell
→ Danish: flonel

→ Italian: flanella
→ Luxembourgish: Flanell
→ Portuguese: flanela
→ Spanish: franela
→ Tagalog: pranela
→ Egyptian Arabic: فنلّة

→ Swedish: flanell

→ Japanese: フランネル (furaneru)

From Middle English flaunneol, from Anglo-Norman flanelle (compare Norman flianné), diminutive of Old French flaine, floene (“coarse wool”), from Gaulish, from Proto-Celtic *wlānos, *wlanā (“wool”) (compare Welsh gwlân, Breton gloan), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂wĺ̥h₁neh₂. More at wool.

"The Witch of Endor was a fool to her, sir: bless you, she would make no more of raising every gentleman in the Bible out of these here beastly tombs than I should of growing cress on an old flannel."

1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC:

(New Zealand, British, countable) A washcloth.


two-up

From the image of a wily digger playing two-up, to a prime minister at the track or the tables, the construction of gambling is as an activity quintessentially Australian.

1993, Ernest Hunter, Aboriginal Health and History: Power and Prejudice in Remote Australia, page 242:

The origins of two-up remain obscure. It probably derived from ‘pitch and toss’, a game British youths had played since the late eighteenth century. In Australia pitch and toss was first recorded in the 1850s on the Victorian goldfields, and in New Zealand as a street game on the West Coast in the early 1870s. Two-up evolved as a variant, becoming popular in Australia in the early 1890s, and in New Zealand a year or two later, as labouring men from both countries traversed the Tasman Sea in search of work.

1994, David Malcolm Grant, On a Roll: A History of Gambling and Lotteries in New Zealand, page 66:

Perversely, Scorps chooses not to punt on Anzac Day and won′t go near two-up, probably because his losses will be too public.

2008, Sam De Brito, The Lost Boys, page 280:

(Australia, New Zealand, games) A game of chance, played by betting on the outcome of two pennies thrown in the air.


townie

cocky ()

antonym(s) of “person who lives in a city or town or has an urban outlook”

Bobby Wick stormed through the tents of his Company, rallying, rebuking, mildly, as is consistent with the Regulations, chaffing the faint-hearted [...] comforting the panic-stricken with rude speech, and more than once tending the dying who had no friends — the men without "townies"[.]

1889, Rudyard Kipling, “Only A Subaltern”, in Under the Deodars, Boston: The Greenock Press, published 1899, page 148:

Here I parted with my fellow-townies, whose home shed at Millhouses covers fields where I played as a child.

1949 March and April, F. G. Roe, “I Saw Three Englands–2”, in Railway Magazine, page 83:

The modern Aussie is a townie through and through. Australia is the least densely populated country on earth; it is also among the most highly urbanised.

1999, Richard D. Lewis, When Cultures Collide: Managing Successfully Across Cultures, page 191:

In the 1940′s, a social survey of Victorian country towns found a similar gap between the interests and outlooks of farmers and townies, and an underlying fear on the part of the townsfolk.

2002, Graeme Davison, “Rural Sustainability in Historical Perspective”, in Chris Cocklin, Jacqui Dibden, editors, Sustainability and Change in Rural Australia, University Of New South Wales Press, page 40:

In that sense, the townies, not the farmers, were the inheritors of a pioneer capacity for hard work.

2005, Marc Brodie, “Chapter 9: The Politics of Rural Nostalgia between the Wars”, in Graeme Davison, Marc Brodie, editors, Struggle Country: The Rural Ideal in Twentieth-Century Australia, page 9.9:

Earlier, there would probably have been a grudge match between two townies, or locals.

2008, Jim Sharman, Blood & Tinsel: A Memoir, Melbourne University Publishing, page 18:

(UK, Australia, New Zealand, informal) A person who lives in a city or town, or has an urban outlook.


God botherer

(Australia, New Zealand, slang, derogatory) A religious preacher who visits homes to promote his or her beliefs.


SAS

The SAS are absolutely charming. Ruthless trained killers are just a phone call away.

2003, Richard Curtis, Love Actually, spoken by Prime Minister (Hugh Grant):

He was the last original member of the SAS, whose exploits were dramatised in the BBC series SAS: Rogue Heroes (2022), based on the 2016 book of the same name by Ben Macintyre.

2024 January 14, Michael Smith, “Mike Sadler obituary”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:

Special Air Service
Special Air Service#English

(British, Australia, New Zealand, military) Initialism of Special Air Service.


cactus

From taxonomic name Cactus, a name given in 1752 by Linnaeus for a genus of cacti (now superseded by the genus name Mammillaria), from Latin cactus, from Ancient Greek κάκτος (káktos, “cardoon”), possibly of Pre-Greek origin.

der

I wouldn't mind throwing it away if it's cactus except for the VCR part which works fine, so then I'd be up for a new VCR as well.

2001 July 8, Dave, “TV Problems”, in aus.electronics (Usenet):

I would say it's cactus. Water conducts & destroys components & PCBs very easily. Hence the water-resistant phones.

2004 August 25, AC, “water damage ???”, in alt.cellular.nokia (Usenet):

‘It′s cactus,’ Rod, the helicopter pilot, said at the sound of the piston ring shattering.

2009, Will Chaffey, Swimming with Crocodiles: An Australian Adventure, page 108:

Michael Armstrong: "Michael Armstrong, I represent Sonia Stevens."
Sue "Boomer" Jenkins: "Oh, haven't you heard? She cactus."
Armstrong "Yes, I realize that, and that's a terrible business.

(Australia, New Zealand, slang) Non-functional, broken, exhausted, dead.


faff

en-verb

faff (third-person singular simple present faffs, present participle faffing, simple past and past participle faffed)

faffs (present singular third-person)
faffing (participle present)
faffed (participle past)
faffed (past)

From a dialect word meaning "blow in gusts".

Stop Faffing And Just Do It

2009, Steven Aitchison, 100 Ways to Develop Your Mind, page 131:

(British, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand) To waste time on an unproductive activity.


trough

PIE word
 *dóru
From Middle English trogh, from Old English troh, trog (“a trough, tub, basin, vessel for containing liquids or other materials”), from Proto-West Germanic *trog, from Proto-Germanic *trugą, *trugaz, from Proto-Indo-European *drukós, enlargement of *dóru (“tree”).
See also West Frisian trôch, Dutch trog, German Trog, Danish trug, Swedish tråg; also Middle Irish drochta (“wooden basin”), Old Armenian տարգալ (targal, “ladle, spoon”). More at tree.

cog

Ernest threw his paint brushes into a kind of trough he had fashioned from sheet metal that he kept in the sink.

(Australia, New Zealand) A rectangular container used for washing or rinsing clothes.

(agriculture, Australia, New Zealand) A channel for conveying water or other farm liquids (such as milk) from place to place by gravity; any ‘U’ or ‘V’ cross-sectioned irrigation channel.


minnow

minnows (plural)
minnie (alternative)
minny (alternative)
minow (alternative)
menow (alternative)
menoe (alternative)

The noun is derived from Late Middle English menew, menowe (“small fish; (specifically) common minnow (Phoxinus phoxinus); or stickleback (possibly the three-spined stickleback, Gasterosteus aculeatus)”), from Old English *mynwe, an oblique form of *mynu, a variant of myne (“minnow; small fish”), from Proto-West Germanic *muniwu (“minnow; small fish”), from Proto-Indo-European *men- (“small”). Possibly influenced by Anglo-Norman menu (“small”) and Old French menu (“small”), and English minim (“anything very minute; applied to animalcula and the like”).
The adjective and verb are derived from the noun.
Cognates
* Middle Low German mone, möne (Dutch meun, West Frisian meun)
* Old High German muniwa, munuwa, munewa (modern German Münne (“minnow”))
* Latin mēna (“small sea-fish”)

cog

galaxiid

(Australia, New Zealand) Synonym of galaxiid (“any member of the family Galaxiidae of mostly small freshwater fish of the Southern Hemisphere”); specifically, the common galaxias, inanga, or jollytail (Galaxias maculatus).


Queen's Counsel

head

Queen's Counsel (plural Queen's Counsel or Queen's Counsels, abbreviation QC)

Queen's Counsel (plural)
Queen's Counsels (plural)
QC (abbreviation)

Archibald was one of two Queen’s Counsels on Tortola, a distinguished title that permitted attorneys to be seated at the lead defense table when arguing a case before the court.

2003, Lisa Pulitzer, Murder in Paradise: The Mystery Surrounding the Murder of American Lois Livingston McMillen, New York, N.Y.: St. Martin’s Paperbacks, →ISBN, page 166:

Barr’s three Queen’s Counsel absorbed Kawashima as they pored over reports from both sides.

2020, Brian Deer, “Unblinded”, in The Doctor Who Fooled the World: Andrew Wakefield’s War on Vaccines, Brunswick, Vic.: Scribe Publications, →ISBN:

(UK, Canada, New Zealand, occasionally Australia) An honorific status officially conferred on senior or meritorious barristers (and occasionally other kinds of lawyer) during the reign of a queen.


pokie

From clipping of poker machine + -ie (“diminutive suffix”).

suffix

For several decades until the early 1990s, Echuca–Moama existed in the consciousness of Melburnians as the destination for pokie bus-trips. All of this changed when the Kennett Government legalised pokies in Victoria in 1993.

2004, Bernard Salt, The Big Shift, page 77:

2006, author not known, Sydney City Guide, Lonely Planet, page 148,
In reality, the cheap beer and walls of pokies attract anyone and everyone.

None of these people around me punching the pokies has walked in here today expecting to be a loser.

2008, Catherine Deveny, Say When, page 171:

I was also shocked that the poker machines (which we call pokies back home) were on full display, as in Australia, they legally have to be in a separate room.

2023 July 21, Billie Schwab Dunn, “I Tried Wetherspoons Food for the First Time-I Feared I'd Get Scurvy...”, in Daily Star:

(Australia, New Zealand, slang, chiefly in the plural) Synonym of poker machine, an electronic game of chance played for money, especially slot machines.


knock down

en-verb

knock down (third-person singular simple present knocks down, present participle knocking down, simple past and past participle knocked down)

knocks down (present singular third-person)
knocking down (participle present)
knocked down (participle past)
knocked down (past)

(transitive, Australia, New Zealand) To introduce (someone) to another, especially to a woman.


yah

An alternative pronunciation, equivalent of yeah and yes.

Yah, we did go along but it turned out the wedding was a load of nonsense.

(US, UK, India, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Malaysia) Yes.


glory box

glory boxes (plural)
glory-box (alternative)

Probably related to UK dialect glory hole (“place for storing odds and ends”).

1985, Janet McCalman, Struggletown: Public and Private Life in Richmond, 1900-1965, Melbourne University Press, page 148,
Every girl who hoped to marry had started early on her glory box, sewing and embroidering household linen, buying sheets and towels on cash order.

Trousseaux and glory boxes could be slowly built up while women were engaged in the paid workforce, before marriage heralded the loss of an independent income.

2003, Jane Malthus, Chris Brickell, “Producing and Consuming Gender: The Case of Clothing”, in Barbara Lesley Brookes, Annabel Cooper, Robin Law, editors, Sites of Gender: Women, Men and Modernity in Southern Dunedin, 1890-1939, page 124:

‘[…]You can work on my daughter′s glory box. She′s had to get a job in the pub and she hasn′t had time to finish it and she′s getting married in December.’

2004, Kerry Greenwood, The Long Walk, unnumbered page:

She said that her mother brought them out to Australia in a baule — a huge glory box — along with blankets, kitchen utensils, crockery, and 32 litres of olive oil in tins. Tucked in this glory box, the linens travelled in the hull of a ship from Naples across oceans and seas, on a train from Sydney to Stanthorpe, by horse and cart to Applethorpe and later by ute to Brisbane.

2011, Zoe Boccabella, Mezza Italiana, unnumbered page:

(Australia, New Zealand) A woman's storage box containing items saved for her wedding or married life.


lamington

lamingtons (plural)
leamington (alternative)
lemmington (alternative)

Uncertain. Although current dictionaries all associate it with Charles Cochrane-Baillie, 2nd Baron Lamington, the earliest publication of this derivation is by John Hepworth in the Nation Review of July 1977. An earlier (1966) reference gives the cake but does not associate it with the Baron, suggesting the theory was not current in the 1960s. It has also been claimed that the name comes from Lamington, South Lanarkshire.

Women were also known for their cooking skills although this was not so much in the provision of meals (which were ‘simple and wholesome’), but in the production of confectionery, ranging from scones, biscuits, sponges, cakes, etc., to such noted Australian and New Zealand delicacies as lamingtons and pavlova.

2000, Patrick Mullins, Chris Kynaston, “The Household Production of Subsistence Goods”, in Patrick Nicol Troy, editor, A History of European Housing in Australia: The Urban Peasant Thesis Reassessed, page 146:

Lamingtons are little sponge cakes coated in chocolate and grated coconut.

2003, Dawn Marie Schrandt, Just Me Cookin Cakes, page 136:

Lamingtons are a traditional New Zealand tea-time treat: plain sponge dipped in a chocolate sauce and coated with coconut.

2005, Pippa Cuthbert, Lindsay Cameron Wilson, Ice Cream!, page 118:

Enter James Lambert, word detective. Goaded by Priol’s anagram, Lambert doubted the Shaky Isles’ equally rickety claims on the lamington. Steal the pavlova if you must, but only an April Fool would deem the lamington a Kiwi import.

2021 April 14, David Astle, “Lamington wars: claiming an Australian invention really takes the cake”, in The Age:

(chiefly Australia and New Zealand) A small square Australian/New Zealand cake made with sponge cake covered on all sides (including top and bottom) with chocolate and desiccated coconut.


she'll be apples

From rhyming slang - apples and spice = nice; compare she's apples.

“She′ll be right,” Bob exuded a confidence much out of touch with the reality of the situation, “She′ll be apples.”

1983, Neil Appleford, The Dish Licker, page 62:

The thought made him smile and he patted Cec on the shoulder.
‘She′ll be apples,’ he encouraged, and Cec took up his cup.

1989, Kerry Greenwood, “Cocaine Blues”, in Introducing the Honourable Phryne Fisher, Omnibus, page 31:

‘Will it hurt?’ Duke was a small republic of concern to Dot.
‘No way. Piece of cake. She′ll be apples.’

1997, David Ireland, The Chosen, page 318:

(Australia, New Zealand, colloquial) Everything will be all right.


washing

en-noun

washing (countable and uncountable, plural washings)

From Middle English waschynge, weschynge, from Old English *weasċing, *wæsċing (attested in weasċingweġ), from Proto-West Germanic *waskingu, equivalent to wash + -ing. Cognate with Saterland Frisian Waaskenge (“washing”), West Frisian wasking (“washing”), Dutch wassing (“washing”), German Waschung (“washing”).

My mother used to do the washing on a Monday

[…] Hazel telling about how she liked a good woodpile, especially when she used to take in washing to earn a little extra. She needed a goodly pile to fuel her washtubs.

2013, Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass, 1st edition, Milkweed Editions, →ISBN, page 74:

(uncountable, chiefly British, New Zealand, Australia) Clothing, bedlinen or soft furnishings that have been, are currently being, or are to be washed; laundry.

լվացք

textiles that have been or are to be washed

laundry

articles that have been or are to be washed


set screw

set screws (plural)
setscrew (alternative)

(New Zealand) A screw with a head, usually hexagonal, like a bolt but without a shank to allow it to screw into material rather than take a nut; a tap bolt.


two cents

That car won't last a week, it's not worth two cents.

(US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, idiomatic, colloquial) A nearly worthless amount, alluding to placing a copper penny on each of the eyelids of a pauper's or slave's body before burial.

не сто́ить вы́еденного яйца́ impf (ne stóitʹ výjedennovo jajcá, literally “to be not worth an eaten egg”)

не сто́ить ло́маного гроша́ impf (ne stóitʹ lómanovo grošá, literally “to be not worth a broken half-copeck coin”)


spunk

spunk (usually uncountable, plural spunks)

→ Irish: sponc

1530, blend of spark + funk (obsolete, “spark”).
Funk (“spark, touchwood”) is from Middle English funke, fonke (“spark”), from Old English *funca (“spark”), from Proto-West Germanic *funkō, from Proto-Germanic *funkô (“spark”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)peng- (“to shine”), and is akin to Middle Low German funke, fanke (“spark”), Middle Dutch vonke (“spark”), Old High German funcho, funko (“spark”), German Funke (“spark”).

der

We are welcomed by 20 year old spunks, as we make a last valiant attempt with our bodies - gasp, gasp - and try to get back in shape.

2005, Sue Austin, Women′s Aggressive Fantasies: A Post-Jungian Exploration of Self-Hatred, Love and Agency, UK: Routledge, page 166:

(countable, UK, Australia, New Zealand, slang) An attractive person (normally male).


punt

en-verb

punt (third-person singular simple present punts, present participle punting, simple past and past participle punted)

punts (present singular third-person)
punting (participle present)
punted (participle past)
punted (past)

Borrowed from French pointe or Spanish punto (“point”). Doublet of point, pointe, ponto, puncto, punctum, and punto.

doublet

She heard […] of his punting at gaming tables.

1854, Arthur Pendennis [pseudonym; William Makepeace Thackeray], The Newcomes: Memoirs of a Most Respectable Family, volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Bradbury and Evans, […], →OCLC:

Whether you want to gamble on a horse race, bet on which player will score first in a game of football, have a punt on a particular tennis player winning a grand slam event, you are buying a chance, a chance which is measured in terms of probability, ‘the odds’.

2004, John Buglear, “Is it worth the risk? – introducing probability”, in Quantitative methods for business: the A-Z of QM, →ISBN, page 339:

Eriksson's men still worth a punt

2006 June 23, Dan Roebuck, “Eriksson's men still worth a punt”, in The Guardian:

Australians have a reputation for being keen to bet on two flies climbing up a wall and today young ones often take a casual classroom punt

2009 November 3, Sarah Collerton, “Cup punt not child's play”, in ABC News:

(Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, UK) To stake against the bank, to back a horse, to gamble or take a chance more generally


piece of piss

Rollerblading is a piece of piss if you know how to roller-skate.

(vulgar, British, New Zealand, Australian slang) Something easy to achieve.


chemist

chemists (plural)
chimist (alternative obsolete)
chymist (alternative obsolete)

First attested 1562, borrowed from French chimiste, from Medieval Latin chimista, from earlier alchimista (literally “alchemist”), from Arabic الْكِيمِيَاء (al-kīmiyāʔ), from article al- + Ancient Greek χυμεία (khumeía, “art of alloying metals”), from χύμα (khúma, “fluid”), from χυμός (khumós, “juice”), from χέω (khéō, “I pour”). As a synonym for pharmacy, a metonymous use of the proprietor to stand for their shop.

der

الْكِيمِيَاء

Arabic الْكِيمِيَاء (al-kīmiyāʔ)

(chiefly British, Australia, New Zealand, Ghana) Synonym of pharmacist.

(chiefly British, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa) Synonym of pharmacy, especially as a standalone shop or general store.


windscreen wiper

en-noun

windscreen wiper (plural windscreen wipers)

(automobiles, British, Australia, New Zealand) A device used to clear rain and dirt from a windscreen; normally a pivoting arm with a rubber blade; a windshield wiper.


spouting

The spouting was filled with leaves and needed cleaning.

These items will include:
galvanised-steel spoutings and downpipes — if used[…].

1984, R. J. Willson, Building Your Own House: A Do-it-Yourself Guide to the New Zealand Timber Framed House, page 212:

The old house, neglected for so many years, needed painting and repairs: the roof leaked and the spoutings had rusted.

2002, Brenda Niall, The Boyds, Melbourne: University Press, published 2007, page 207:

Water trickles away from gutterings and down spoutings into the big water tank at the back of the house.

2003, Russell Stewart, The Dolphin, Canada: Trafford Publishing, page 9:

(Australia, New Zealand) A gutter under the eaves of a building; guttering.


cell phone

cell phones (plural)
cellphone (alternative)
cell-phone (alternative)

(chiefly Canada, US, New Zealand, Philippines) A portable, wireless telephone, which changes antenna connections seamlessly during travel from one radio reception cell to another without losing the party-to-party call connection.


writ

writ (countable and uncountable, plural writs)

From Middle English writ, from Old English writ and ġewrit (“writing”), from Proto-Germanic *writą (“fissure, writing”), from Proto-Indo-European *wrey-, *wrī- (“to scratch, carve, ingrave”). Cognate with Scots writ (“writ, writing, handwriting”), Icelandic rit (“writing, writ, literary work, publication”).

cog

(countable, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, UK) A document ordering that an election be conducted.


trot

From Middle English trotten, from Old French trotter, troter (“to go, trot”), from Medieval Latin *trottō, *trotō (“to go”), from Frankish *trottōn (“to go, run”), from Proto-Germanic *trudōną, *trudaną, *tradjaną (“to go, step, tread”), from Proto-Indo-European *dreh₂- (“to run, escape”). Cognate with Old High German trottōn (“to run”), Modern German trotten (“to trot, plod”), Gothic 𐍄𐍂𐌿𐌳𐌰𐌽 (trudan, “to tread”), Old Norse troða (“to walk, tread”), Old English tredan (“to step, tread”). Doublet of tread.

der

He′s had a good trot, but his luck will end soon.

It was to be a hugely special occasion, for apart from the picture shows at the Majestic, there was usually nothing at all going on in Sandspit to make anyone think they were on a good trot living there.

1994, Noel Virtue, Sandspit Crossing, page 34:

Should he or she be having a bad trot, the exchange rate will be higher than normal.

2004, John Mosig, Ric Fallu, Australian Fish Farmer: A Practical Guide to Aquaculture, 2nd edition, page 21:

(Australia, New Zealand, with "good" or "bad") A run of luck or fortune.


jumper

→ Bengali: জাম্পার (jampar)

→ Dutch: jumper

→ Estonian: džemper

→ Finnish: jumpperi

→ Georgian: ჯემპრი (ǯemṗri)

→ German: Jumper

→ Hungarian: dzsömper

→ Japanese: ジャンパー (janpā)

→ Macedonian: џемпер (džemper)

→ Maltese: ġamper

→ Portuguese: jumper

desctree

→ Russian: джемпер (džemper)
→ Kazakh: жемпір (jempır)
→ Kyrgyz: жемпир (jempir)

→ Serbo-Croatian:

Cyrillic script: џемпер

Latin script: džemper

→ Spanish: chompa, chomba

→ Welsh: siwmper

From the term jump (“short coat”) + -er, originally in sailors' jargon, ultimately of uncertain origin. Jump is possibly from Scottish English jupe (“man's loose jacket or tunic”), from Middle English juype, gype, joupe, from Old French jupe, juppe, from Arabic جُبَّة (jubba); see also jibba. Cognate with Middle Low German jōpe, gōpe (“waistcoat, jacket”), German Joppe (“jacket”). Alternatively, perhaps derived from jump.

The hideous holiday jumper became a big trend in the 1980s, influenced as we were by the TV-am gang, Gordon the Gopher and memories of Andy Williams singing to girls as they walked by on his Christmas specials. (Can't blame 'em, given he was wearing one of his knitted monstrosities.)

2012 December 16, Robert Epstein, “Bring Modern: Christmas jumpers”, in The Independent:

(chiefly British, Australia, New Zealand) A woollen sweater or pullover.


pike

en-verb

pike (third-person singular simple present pikes, present participle piking, simple past and past participle piked)

pikes (present singular third-person)
piking (participle present)
piked (participle past)
piked (past)

From Middle English pyke, pyk, pik, pike (“pike; sharp point, iron tip of a staff or spear, pointed toe of an item of footwear; sharp tool; mountain, peak”), from Old English pīc (“pointed object, pick axe”), and Middle French pique (“long thrusting weapon”), from Old French pic (“sharp point, spike”); both ultimately from Proto-West Germanic *pīk, from Proto-Germanic *pīkaz, *pīkō (“sharp point, pike, peak”), related to pick with a narrower meaning.
The word is cognate with Middle Dutch pecke, peke, picke (modern Dutch piek), German Pike, Norwegian pik, Danish pig, and possibly Old Irish pīk. It is a doublet of pique.
The diving or gymnastics position is probably from tapered appearance of the body when the position is executed.
The carnivorous freshwater fish is probably derived from the “sharp point, spike” senses, due to the fish’s pointed jaws.
The verb sense “to quit or back out of a promise” may be from the sense of taking up pilgrim's staff or pike and leaving on a pilgrimage; and compare Middle English pī̆ken (“to go, remove oneself”) and Old Danish pikke af (“to go away”).

cog

Don’t pike on me like you did last time!

—But [Albert] Camus piked out, said Carole. [Jean-Paul] Sartre and that lot got pissed off with him, he stood off from the war, he wouldn't oppose it.

2002, Sylvia Lawson, How Simone de Beauvoir Died in Australia: Stories and Essays, Sydney, N.S.W.: UNSW Press, →ISBN, page 151:

[William] Holman accepted the challenge while [John] Norton ‘piked out’; nevertheless Holman won Cootamundra against a strong candidate.

2006, Pip Wilson, “Biographies”, in Faces in the Street: Louisa and Henry Lawson and the Castlereagh Street Push, Coffs Harbour, N.S.W.: Pip Wilson, →ISBN; 3rd edition, Coffs Harbour, N.S.W.: Pip Wilson, January 2007, →ISBN, page 543:

If they didn't go ahead, it would look like they had piked, backed down.

2008, Chris Pash, The Last Whale, ReadHowYouWant edition, Fremantle, W.A.: Fremantle Press, →ISBN, page 36:

(intransitive, Australia, New Zealand, slang) Often followed by on or out: to quit or back out of a promise.


prang

en-verb

prang (third-person singular simple present prangs, present participle pranging, simple past and past participle pranged)

prangs (present singular third-person)
pranging (participle present)
pranged (participle past)
pranged (past)

Originally World War II Royal Air Force slang; probably imitative.

onomatopoeic

imitative

“Didn′t bump nobody,” I sneer.
“That′s because you were careful,” says the wife. “Your forecast doesn′t say you will prang. It merely says ‘exercise care today,’ which you did.”

(intransitive, chiefly Australia and New Zealand, UK, informal) To crash; to have an accident while controlling a vehicle.

Soon after rescuing some silly children from the local caves, the alien prangs his vessel and dies.

2004, John Pym, editor, Time Out Film Guide, page 70:

On Friday, I picked up our camper van, upgraded to a four sleeper so Elysee and I could each find a neutral corner, which I managed to “prang,” navigating the parking lot, within one hour of signing away my house as security.

2005, Thomas Marshall, Our Summer in Australia And New Zealand, page 93:

(transitive, chiefly Australia and New Zealand, UK, informal) To damage (the vehicle one is driving) in an accident; to have a minor collision with (another motor vehicle).


marginal

en-adj

marginal (not generally comparable, comparative more marginal, superlative most marginal)

more marginal (comparative)
most marginal (superlative)

Learned borrowing from Medieval Latin marginālis, equivalent to margin + -al.

լուսանցքային

of, relating to, or located at a margin or an edge

vaa’ankieli-

where the winning margin was a small proportion of the total number of votes

In Bristol West, Labour had a majority of only 1,000, so the seat is considered highly marginal this time around.

In ‘battleground’ seats with the Conservatives, Liberal Democrat vote shares increased most in the most marginal seats.

2002, Andrew Geddes, Jonathan Tonge, Labour′s Second Landslide: The British General Election 2001, page 79:

In Outer London, Harrow East is now a more marginal Labour hold than Harrow West.

2007, Robert Waller, Byron Criddle, The Almanac of British Politics, page 58:

The pendulum lists the seats from least marginal to most marginal for the government on one side, and least marginal to most marginal for the opposition on the other side.

2010, Nick Economou, Zareh Ghazarian, Australian Politics For Dummies, unnumbered page:

He justified his comment by noting that the Labour Party had quickly committed to delivering a high-speed Leeds-Manchester line, and argued that pressure would grow on the Government because there were several marginal parliamentary seats around Leeds and Bradford.

2021 December 1, “Network News: Integrated Rail Plan: Osborne predicts HS2 eastern leg will return”, in RAIL, number 945, page 8:

(comparable) Determined by a small margin; having a salient characteristic determined by a small margin.

(politics, chiefly UK, Australia, New Zealand, of a constituency) Subject to a change in sitting member with only a small change in voting behaviour, this usually being inferred from the small winning margin of the previous election.


crack up

en-adj

crack up (comparative more crack up, superlative most crack up)

more crack up (comparative)
most crack up (superlative)

That joke was crack up.

"It was crack up!"

2017 April 23, “McDonald's say 'neigh' to horses through the drive-thru”, in Stuff:

In town people would stop and say to me, “Hey Becky, that cat story was crack up.”

2020 April 20, “The curious case of a fictional spa in Westport”, in Newsroom:

One person said it was "crack up", while the woman who uploaded it said "I'm a do it again (sic)".

2020 June 5, “Police looking into footage of woman twerking on Auckland Harbour Bridge”, in Newshub, archived from the original on 2020-09-20:

(New Zealand, colloquial) Funny; hilarious


redundancy

en-noun

redundancy (countable and uncountable, plural redundancies)

non-redundancy

antonym(s) of “state of being redundant”

employment

antonym(s) of “state of being unemployed”

hiring

antonym(s) of “instance or act of dismissal”

1981, New Zealand House of Representatives. Parliamentary Debates, Volume 442, page 4212,
Has he received any representation from Air New Zealand management about redundancy proposals for Air New Zealand staff; and, if so, do these proposals include redundancy agreements?

1983, UK House of Commons, Papers by Command, Volume 40, page lvi,
The potential savings did not take into account once-and-for-all staff redundancy costs of £16.5 million and unspecified costs involved in increasing stock levels […] .

In Estonia, in addition, the ethnical aspects of staff redundancy programmes have to be taken into account.

2003, K. Brendow, Restructuring Estonia′s Oil Shale Industry: What Lessons from the Restructuring the Coal Industries in Central and Eastern Europe?: Oil Shale, page 307:

As well as fighting against pay freezes (the RMT is about to ballot members of TransPennine Express), the union is seeking agreements with Network Rail and train operators that there will be no compulsory redundancies (it already has this agreement with ScotRail). [...] Whether redundancies come and whether they result in industrial action remains to be seen, but it's clear that the RMT is not prepared to show any flexibility towards rail companies.

2020 December 2, Philip Haigh, “A winter of discontent caused by threat of union action”, in Rail, page 63:

(chiefly UK, Australia, New Zealand) The state of being unemployed because one's job is no longer necessary; the dismissal of such an employee; a layoff.


suburb

From Old French suburbe, subburbe, from Latin suburbium (from sub- + urbs (“city”)). Displaced native Old English underburg (literally “sub-” or “under-city”).

ncog

(Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, UK) Any subdivision of a conurbation, not necessarily on the periphery.

حَيّ

Australian, British English, Irish English, New Zealand English: any subdivision of a conurbation


stuffed

en-adj

stuffed (comparative more stuffed, superlative most stuffed)

more stuffed (comparative)
most stuffed (superlative)

'Well, you talked me into it,' said Cornelius. 'I feel really stuffed. I can tell you that for sure. So I could do with a bloody good sleep.'

2011, Nick Oud, The Hatchling and The Human, Xlibris, page 74:

(UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, informal) Very tired.

If the suspension was stuffed already from hitting the concrete base of the fence—and it was—then it was really stuffed by the time we'd gone a kilometre along the railway.

1998, John Marsden, The Night is for Hunting, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, published 2001, unnumbered page:

But if you don't play ball in life, if you don′t go for it with a sincere 'Go, girrrrl' rugby-tackle attitude, you're really stuffed.

2002, Clare de Vries, Of Cats and Kings, page 174:

Although the 14-inch Standard that Yamato targets is stuffed, and maybe the one after that, a prolonged bombardment by a Colorado-class is not gonna do good things to anything - doesn't really matter who you are.

2019 March 6, Drachinifel, 36:17 from the start, in The Battle of Samar (Alternate History) - Bring on the Battleships!, archived from the original on 2022-07-04:

(UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand) Broken, not functional; in trouble, in a situation from which one is unlikely to recover.


backbench

backbenches (plural)
back bench (alternative)
back-bench (alternative)

His spacious quarters indicate his transition from backbench upstart to established member of the governing team.

There was no separate back-bench organization ; indeed there were no back-bench caucuses in any Nigerian Legislative House, and any attempt to create one would probably have been regarded by the leadership concerned as a subversive move.

1963, Richard L. Sklar, Nigerian Political Parties: Power in an Emergent African Nation, published 2004, page 400:

Both Thatcher's and Major's PPSs developed the role of trying to see that those members considered loyal to the leadership won the main positions on backbench party committees.

1995, R. L. Borthwick, Churchill to Major: The British Prime Ministership Since 1945, page 153:

In fall 1984, Brian Mulroney led a cabinet with far more political experience than the Conservative backbench.

1997, David Campbell Docherty, Mr. Smith Goes to Ottawa: Life in the House of Commons:

2009, John Coakley, Michael Gallagher, Politics in the Republic of Ireland, page 301,
In situations of low ministerial turnover and increased professionalisation of politics, with most TDs regarding politics as a career, Taoisigh could find that impatience on the backbenches leads to calls for leadership turnover to effect promotions.

A bench at the back of a room or seating area.

(politics, UK, New Zealand, often attributive) In a house of legislature following the model of the Westminster system (such as the UK House of Commons), any bench behind either of the front benches and occupied by members of each party group who are not party leaders, cabinet ministers, holders of offices such as the whips, etc.


Member of Parliament

en-noun

Member of Parliament (plural Members of Parliament)

Members of Parliament (plural)
MPs (plural)
member of parliament (alternative)

(UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand) A representative elected by the voters of an electoral district to a house of a parliament.


crib

crib (countable and uncountable, plural cribs)

From Middle English crib, cribbe, from Old English crib, cryb, cribb, crybb (“couch, bed; manger, stall”), from Proto-West Germanic *kribbjā, from Proto-Germanic *kribjǭ (“crib, wickerwork”), from Proto-Indo-European *grebʰ-, *gerbʰ- (“bunch, bundle, tuft, clump”), from *ger- (“to turn, twist”).
Cognate with Saterland Frisian Kräbbe, Krääb, Krääf (“crib”), West Frisian krêbe (“crib”), Dutch krib (“crib, manger”), German Krippe (“rack, crib”), Danish krybbe (“crib”), Icelandic krubba (“crib”). Doublet of crèche. The sense of ‘stealing, taking notes, plagiarize’ seems to have developed out of the verb.
The criminal sense may derive from the 'basket' sense, circa the mid 18th century, in that a poacher could conceal poachings in such a basket (see the 1772 Samuel Foote quotation). The cheating sense probably derives from the criminal sense.

inh

(southern New Zealand) A small holiday home, often near a beach and of simple construction.

преписване

(obsolete in English) petty theft or plagiarism

He ate a thick square of banana cake from his crib and stared into the fire.

2002, Alex Miller, Journey to the Stone Country, Allen & Unwin, published 2003, page 40:

(now chiefly Australia, New Zealand) A snack or packed lunch, especially as taken to work to eat during a break.


hot dog

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

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Naomi Persephone Amethyst (NaomiAmethyst)-hot dog!.wav

From hot + dog, in reference to the supposed source of the meat, both in the senses of the food item (sense 1, sense 2) and of a show-off (sense 3). First attested in 1884 in the Evansville (Indiana) Daily Courier.

(New Zealand) A battered, deep-fried sausage or saveloy on a stick; a corn dog.


enamoured

en-adj

enamoured (comparative more enamoured, superlative most enamoured)

more enamoured (comparative)
most enamoured (superlative)

UK, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada spelling of enamored.


whinge

whinges (plural)
winge (alternative)
quhynge (alternative)

LL-Q1860 (eng)-I learned some phrases-whinge.wav

From a northern variant of Old English hwinsian (“to whine”), from Proto-West Germanic *hwinisōn (“to whine”), from Proto-West Germanic *hwīnan (“to whine”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱwey- (“to hiss, whistle, whisper”). Cognate with German winseln (“to whine, whimper”).

der

Her whinges grew even shriller and more annoying the longer we had to listen to them.

(UK, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland) A cry.

I know you don't like it, but your whinges won't solve the problem!

(UK, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland) A peevish complaint.


pingas

Probably derived from the Danish penge (“money”).


voir dire

en-noun

voir dire (countable and uncountable, plural voir dires)

/ˈvwɑː ˌdɪə/

/ˈvɔɹ ˌdaɪɹ/

/ˈvwɑɹ ˌdɪɹ/

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

Anglo-Norman for “to say the truth”, from Old French voir (“true, truth”) + dire (“to say”), from Latin vērum + dīcere.

(law, England, Wales, New Zealand, Australia, US) A preliminary hearing without a jury in order to determine whether the evidence meets the test for admissibility to go to a full hearing at a criminal trial, in the legal systems of England and Wales, New Zealand, Australia, and the United States.


eggplant

eggplant (countable and uncountable, plural eggplants)

eggplants (plural)
egg-plant (alternative)

From egg + plant, originally applied only to the white-colored, egg-shaped variety.

Solanum melongena
Solanum melongena#Translingual

(Canada, US, Australia, New Zealand, Philippines) The plant Solanum melongena.

(Canada, US, Australia, New Zealand, Philippines) The edible fruit of the Solanum melongena: an aubergine.


sleepout

She could see the dark bulk of the sleepout: no lights there either.

1983, Keri Hulme, The Bone People, Penguin, published 1986, page 111:

As I squeeze headfirst out of the sleepout, something invisible tugs at my legs.

2009, Craig Silvey, Jasper Jones, Allen & Unwin, page 2:

(Australia, New Zealand) A veranda or other outbuilding used as a sleeping area.


chilly bin

(New Zealand) An insulated picnic cooler, using refrigerated blocks to keep food cool.


bung

[…] My right eye has gone bung, and my left one is pretty dicky.

1922, Apsley Cherry-Garrard, Karen Oslund (introduction), The Worst Journey in the World, 2004, page 365, The evening we reached the glacier Bowers wrote

‘Morning Mrs. Weissnicht. I′ve just heard as how your washing-machine′s gone bung.’

1953, Eric Linklater, A Year of Space, page 206:

It′s the signal box, the main switchboard, that′s gone bung!

1997, Lin Van Hek, The Ballad of Siddy Church, page 219:

Henry had said, “Half a million bloomin′ acres. A quarter of a million blanky sheep shorn a year, and they can′t keep on two blokes. It′s not because wer′e union, mate. It′s because we′re newchums. Something′s gone bung with this country.”

2006, Pip Wilson, Faces in the Street: Louisa and Henry Lawson and the Castlereagh Street Push, page 9:

(Australia, New Zealand, slang) Broken, not in working order.


grizzle

en-verb

grizzle (third-person singular simple present grizzles, present participle grizzling, simple past and past participle grizzled)

grizzles (present singular third-person)
grizzling (participle present)
grizzled (participle past)
grizzled (past)

[Wilfred:] In tears, eh? What a plague art thou grizzling for now?

1888, W[illiam] S[chwenck] Gilbert, Arthur Sullivan, composer, The Yeomen of the Guard […] , London: Chappel & Co., […], published c. 1911:

R. J. Tizard — What are you grizzling about now?

1976, New Zealand House of Representatives, Parliamentary Debates, page 4850:

The pin-thin girl is grizzling, whining that she has sand in her eyes.

2009, Judy Waite, Game Girls, unnumbered page:

(UK, Australia, New Zealand, slang) To whinge or whine.

New mothers frequently complain that their partner won't get up to change a wet nappy or comfort a grizzling baby.

(UK, Australia, New Zealand, slang) To fuss or cry


tomo

(New Zealand) A shaft formed in limestone rock dissolved by groundwater.


wellies

en-noun

wellies pl (normally plural, singular welly or wellie)

welly (singular)
wellie (singular)
Wellies (alternative)

(UK, New Zealand, informal) Wellington boots


meths

(UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, informal) methylated spirits.


chiack

en-verb

chiack (third-person singular simple present chiacks, present participle chiacking, simple past and past participle chiacked)

chiacks (present singular third-person)
chiacking (participle present)
chiacked (participle past)
chiacked (past)
chyack (alternative)

Jack soon learnt that it was not politic to attack big snakes, which included the adult black, brown, and the death-ader, though he might "chiack" them to his heart's content.

1912 March 1, Edward S. Sorenson, “The Biography of a Kookaburra”, in The Lone Hand, volume 10, page 366:

They were cheerful enough, liked a bit of chiacking, and the women enjoyed the bawdy undertones of their jokes.

1987, Sheila Anderson, “End of the Season”, in Anna Gibbs, Alison Tilson, editors, Frictions, An Anthology of Fiction by Women, page 45:

Will you look at us by the river! The whole restless mob of us on spread blankets in the dreamy briny sunshine skylarking and chiacking about for one day, one clear, clean, sweet day in a good world in the midst of our living.

1991, Tim Winton, 'Cloudstreet', Picador UK Paperback edition 1992 (Chapter 1, at page 1: the book's opening lines)

Most poignantly of all, though, when I get fed up with working alone, I remember Victorian high school staffrooms of the sixties and seventies: the rigid hierarchy with its irritations, but also the chiacking, the squabbles, the timely advice from some old stager with a fag drooping off his lip.

2008, Helen Garner, “The Art of the Dumb Question”, in True Stories: Selected Non-Fiction, page 13:

We believed Melbourne′s two most extraordinary institutions were those of chiacking – taking the piss – and larrikinism. Although the latter would develop derogatory connotations, and chiacking was already beginning to die a slow death, sometimes perceived as offensive in its more alcoholic forms, especially by the women in our group.

2008, Graeme Blundell, The Naked Truth: A Life in Parts, published 2011, unnumbered page:

(Australia, New Zealand, British, transitive) To taunt or tease.


chiack

Indeed, the man was less brute than boor; he also spoke the truth. He had not seriously exceeded the limits of legitimate “chiack.”

1900 May, E. W. Hornung, “The Jackeroo on G-Block”, in The Strand Magazine, volume 19, number 113, page 368:

I felt as if I couldn't go that fur, An' start to sling off chiack like I used...

1915, C.J. Dennis, The Songs of a Sentimental Bloke, page 16:

It was, Janet thought, a symbol of male religion: there they all were, yappings stilled as they attended League mass, quaffing their communion Tooheys, joining in the votive prayers of groan, chiack, cheer.

Dennis captured the speech rhythms and humour of ordinary Australians, their gift of 'chiack', and their deflection of adversity with a ready joke.

2004, Eugene Benson, L.W. Conolly, Encyclopedia of Post-Colonial Literatures in English:

I took some chiack from the drivers: Was that the schottische you was dancing on them logs?

2007, Les A. Murray, Fredy Neptune, page 76:

(Australia, New Zealand, British) Taunting or teasing.


tangi

Borrowed from Maori tangi (“lament, mourning, funeral ceremony”).

bor

(New Zealand) A Maori dirge, or song for the dead.

He goes on to say that the Government, The Maori Sanitary Councils, and the Native Land Court have endeavoured to prevent Maori tangis lasting for more than three or four days […].

1906, The District Court and Magistrate's Court Reports:

Late in the nineteenth century Māori women began to adopt the Victorian mourning costume of black clothes for tangi, and the practice continued long after Pākehā New Zealanders had dropped the custom.

2003, Michael King, The Penguin History of Aotearoa New Zealand, Penguin, published 2023, page 243:

(New Zealand) Funeral rites; a funeral ceremony, a tangihanga.

(New Zealand) Crying, wailing, especially when seeing someone after a long absence.


safe seat

(chiefly British, Australia, New Zealand) A seat in a legislature that is traditionally held by one political party because of the make-up of the local electorate.


dux

Borrowed from Latin dux (“leader”). Doublet of doge, duc, duce, and duke.

[…]on the motion of Sir John Marjoribanks, Bart., Lord Provost, unanimously resolved, July 27, 1814, “that there be annually presented by the town of Edinburgh to the boy at the head of the Greek class, taught by the rector of the High School, a gold medal of the same value [five guineas] as that annually presented to the dux of the Latin class.”

1849, Wilhelm Steven, The History of the High School of Edinburgh, page 191:

He finished the year dux of Form III with an average 90 per cent over eight subjects. The school did not award end-of-year marks in fourth and fifth forms, but Evans’ report for those years shows he passed all subjects in both years and was again dux in Form V.

1999, Keith Scott, Gareth Evans, page 29:

This school was where my father had been dux in his senior year in 1937 just as his father had been dux at the Rockhampton Grammar School²⁷ before the turn of the 19th century.

2010, Roger K. A. Allen, Ballina Boy, page 28:

Quite a few who became national athletic champions were also duxes or top academic pupils at their schools.

2011, A. Lydiard, Running to the Top, page 17:

(UK, Australia, New Zealand) The top (male or female) academic student in a school, or in a year of school; the top student in a specified academic discipline.


beetroot

en-noun

beetroot (countable and uncountable, plural beetroots)

beetroots (plural)
beet root (alternative)
beet-root (alternative)

[ˈbiː.t͡ʃɹʉːt]

(UK, New Zealand, Australia) A normally deep-red-colored root vegetable usually cooked or pickled before eating.

beet

normally deep-red-coloured root vegetable


Beehive

the Beehive (canonical)
beehive (alternative nonstandard)

(New Zealand, informal) The executive wing of the New Zealand parliament buildings.


Labour

(UK, New Zealand) Short for the Labour Party.


Muppet

Diane Sawyer
Elmo
Jim Henson
Kevin Clash
Muppet

Coined by Jim Henson as an alteration of puppet. Henson had claimed the word was a blend of marionette + puppet, but later recanted.

'I'll come, if you like,' Paul says. 'I'm not asking you, Muppet,' Kit snaps.

English version: I'm A Cockney Geezer, You Muppet. No, you are an upper middle class, public school educated wanker (it takes one to know one) and I feel I must apologize to everyone on behalf of the land of my birth for the many crimes to cinema committed in the wake of Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998).

2011, Julian Hoxter, Write What You Don't Know, page 45:

She tilts her head towards him, and whispers in his ear, “Of course I do, you Muppet. I keep telling you to trust The Source and our guides; don't I?"

2013, Guy Dance, Soul Brigade: The Mission of Light, page 245:

What's your fucking name you Muppet? I won't ask you again.

2018, Peter D. Bull, Undercover, page 13:

Not that kind of atmosphere, you Muppet. A cut it with a knife atmosphere.

2021, Margaret de Rohan, The Icarus Affair:

(UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Eastern US, South Africa, slang, derogatory) Alternative form of muppet (fool).


P

P (countable and uncountable, plural Ps)

Almost 70kg of pre-cursor drugs that could be used to manufacture $20 million of P have been seized by police and customs officers.

(slang, New Zealand) Abbreviation of pure (A "pure" form of an illegal drug, especially methamphetamine).


Sellotape

Sellotape (usually uncountable, plural Sellotapes)

Brand name, from cellophane tape. The first letter was changed to avoid infringing the then-extant trademark on cellophane.

(UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand) A brand of adhesive tape (and similar products) similar to Scotch tape (US).


Septic

Short form of Australian rhyming slang septic tank (“Yank”).

Not only didn′t he want to tour he didn′t even want “Septics” (“Septic Tanks,″ meaning Yanks) to buy his records.

1992 February, “The Brit Pack”, in Spin, page 41:

Cockney rhyming slang
Cockney rhyming slang

(UK, Australia, New Zealand, Cockney rhyming slang) Alternative form of septic; an American.


Westie

For Aucklanders who know what it means, this person is a Westie. — http://groups-beta.google.com/group/alt.sysadmin.recovery/msg/66ad493f6f24113d

At least Bobs claims he's a Westie and he hasn't moved there as a social reject. — http://groups-beta.google.com/group/rec.sport.rugby.union/msg/9ad2d5146251ef6a

He started singing for us ... and by then we were over the whole Westie party scene because it was too violent and agro and too many munters.

2005, Gareth Shute, Making Music in New Zealand, page 16:

Yet naming the family ‘West’ and locating them in working-class West Auckland marks Cheryl and her brood out as a family of ‘Westies’, this colloquial New Zealand term denoting an urban sub-culture mythologised as much for its rejection of middle-class aspirations and cultural capital as for its considered enjoyment of drinking, swearing, fighting and sex. Important to the universal appeal of Outrageous Fortune in New Zealand, however, is that contemporary ‘Westie’ culture is by no means confined to Auckland, with versions of it existing in proximate milieux throughout New Zealand.

2011, Trisha Dunleavy, Hester Joyce, New Zealand Film and Television: Institution, Industry and Cultural Change, page 199:

Around our westie bonfire, we all toasted our success. A large old television had been set up on the back porch and all the evening's results poured in from cities and districts all over New Zealand.

2012, Tim Shadbolt, A Mayor of Two Cities, unnumbered page:

(slang, derogatory) An inhabitant of the western suburbs of a city or town, stereotyped as of working class status and poor.

(New Zealand) An inhabitant of the western suburbs of Auckland.


Yank

“This time,” he General Alphonse-Pierre Juin] told the Yanks, “you have not crossed to win new victories but to preserve peace. […]”

1951 June 11, “The Yanks Are Coming: U.S. shows world we are playing for keeps as 4th Division leaves to join Eisenhower's NATO army”, in Life, page 38:

(slang, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, Canada, UK, sometimes derogatory ethnic slur, by extension) An American: someone from the United States.


mo

(Australia, New Zealand, colloquial) A moustache.


manchester

After the city of Manchester (England), once an important centre for the manufacture of cotton textile goods.

Target www.target.com.au has an extensive range of quality on-trend fashionable apparel and accessories, the latest designs in homewares, including manchester, bed linen and décor, cosmetics, fragrances, health and beauty products and a full range of toys, games and entertainment.

2003 September 24, Thomas 'bacco|007' Baxter, “lyrics in song in K-Mart^([sic]) ad”, in aus.tv (Usenet):

(Australia, New Zealand, uncountable) Household linen.


short black

1999, Donna Hay, Marie Claire: Food Fast, Murdoch Books, Australia, page 118,
For a real kick, add a generous teaspoon of vanilla to a strong short black—great for after dinner.

She took a sip and sputtered.
‘I ordered a short black. What the hell is this?’

2010, Randa Abdel-Fattah, Noah′s Law, page 42:

2010, Elizabeth Martin, Elizabeth Martin, Boomerang Press, Australia, page 179,
I started the week well with my resolution of cutting back on coffee. I had my morning coffee at the Red Raisin, a short black with lunch, an iced tea for my afternoon break, then a pick-me-up before the evening rush.

(Australia, New Zealand) A small cup or glass of espresso coffee.


long black

Up the hill towards the park was the coffee shop where she and Mandy had met, and where Hugh had come daily for his long blacks.

2009, Peter Yeldham, A Distant Shore, unnumbered page:

Once you have had your fill of nightlife, overdosed on cafe lattes or long blacks, seen a show or even cheered on a footy team, it's time to leave the city lights behind and experience Victoria′s wild side.

2010, Lindsay Brown, Justine Vaisutis, Jayne D'Arcy, Katja Gaskell, Australia, Lonely Planet, page 202:

Down two long blacks and you′ll visit the ladies′ room often enough to earn a VIP pass, but, despite its speedy exit, the liquid in your favourite morning caffeine boost still counts towards your hydration goal.

2011, Tiffiny Hall, Weightloss Warrior: How to Win the Battle Within, unnumbered page:

(Australia, New Zealand) A regular-sized cup of espresso coffee without milk, being a diluted version of a short black.


fanny

fanny (countable and uncountable, plural fannies)

19th century. Ultimately from Fanny, pet form of the name Frances. Compare dick, John Thomas, mickey.

Her dress was so short you could nearly see her fanny.

(British, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, vulgar) The female genitalia.


wonga

Borrowed from Angloromani [Term?], from Romani angar (“coal”), from Sanskrit अङ्गार (áṅgāra, “charcoal, coal”), from Proto-Indo-Iranian *Hángāras, from Proto-Indo-European *h₁óngʷl̥. The English term coal was itself used as a slang term for money in England in the 18th and 19th centuries.

der

A whole wodge of wonga.

I don't mean to be difficult, I said to the madame in reception, but I'm paying a lot of wonga, so these women of yours should be able to manage a bit of service, shouldn't they, I said, and then I was given a voucher.

2009, K. O. Dahl, The Fourth Man: A Thriller, Minotaur Books, →ISBN, page 59:

“Well, to fix this house, we need money, correct? Does anyone know if we have any money? Anyone?” “Uh...” “Cash.” “Coin.” “Moola.” “Gold.” “Wonga.” “Rubles.” “Milk.” “Lettuce.” “Bread.” “Dough.” “Sweet cream.” “Stripper tips.” “Anyone?” “Colin Robinson was in charge of paying all the bills in the house, and now Colin Robinson is dead.”

2022 July 12, Stefani Robinson & Paul Simms, “Reunited” (16:24 from the start), in What We Do in the Shadows, season 4, episode 1, spoken by Nadja of Antipaxos (Natasia Demetriou):

(slang, chiefly London, New Zealand) Money.


johnny

Alternative letter-case form of Johnny, diminutive of John.

toilet

place or device for urination and defecation

Willie Cox said they found him in the barn, shot bang through the head, and the young English johnny who'd been on the station learning farming - disappeared.

(New Zealand, derogatory) An inexperienced new worker, usually an immigrant.


trots

A lot of people used to go out to the trots at Wayville. You′d see them all dressed up in their beads and bonnets and looking all flash, going off to the trots.

2002, Veronica Brodie, Mary-Anne Gale, My Side of the Bridge: The Life Story of Veronica Brodie as Told to Mary-Anne Gale, South Australia: Wakefield Press, page 49:

‘Russ drank two bottles of Coruba rum at the races then demanded to be driven to the Auckland night trots. We hadn′t been that keen on going to the trots, but when we dropped him there we figured we might as well stay for a couple of races.[…]’

2006, Mike Dillon, From The Horses Mouth: The Keith Haub Story, HarperCollins New Zealand, published 2010, unnumbered page:

I like both kinds of racing, thoroughbred and standardbred. Despite their lower social status, I like betting the trots just as much as I do the flats.

2008, J. D. Carpenter, Twelve Trees, Canada: Dundurn Press, page 24:

“[…]It is a fact that thousands come, pay their fee, and go straight to the amphitheater to see the trots, without whose fees premiums could not be paid to other classes.”

2008, Drake Hokanson, Carol Kratz, Purebred & Homegrown: America′s County Fairs, US: Terrace Books, page 45:

2011, Mike Walsh, 8: From Hollywood to the Garden Suburb (and Back to Hollywood): Exhibition and Distribution in Australia, Richard Maltby, Daniel Biltereyst, Philippe Meers, Explorations in New Cinema History: Approaches and Case Studies, Wiley, page 164,
The introduction of harness racing on Saturday nights at nearby Wayville in 1934 caused serious consequences for the rest of the 1930s as ‘the trots’ regularly attracted crowds of 20 000. When the trots began to offer free admission to children accompanying their parents, the state Exhibitors′ Association, of which Thompson was then chair, tried to agitate against this on moral grounds.

(Australia, New Zealand, US, informal, with "the") A trotting race meet; harness racing.


coconut

en-noun

coconut (countable and uncountable, plural coconuts)

coconuts (plural)
cocoanut (alternative dated)
coco-nut (alternative archaic)
cokernut (alternative archaic)

→ Japanese: ココナッツ (kokonattsu)

From coco + nut. In reference to assimilated Hispanic or black people, derived from the fruit's exotic origins and the slur that they are "brown on the outside, white on the inside". In reference to Polynesians, from the ubiquity of coconut palms in the area.

that accounts for the milk in the coconut

(New Zealand, derogatory, ethnic slur) A Pacific islander.


shitty

en-adj

shitty (comparative shittier, superlative shittiest)

shittier (comparative)
shittiest (superlative)

From shit + -y. Cognate with German Low German schittig (“dirty, shitty”), German scheißig (“shitty”).

cog

better than a poke in the eye with a shitty stick

Don't get shitty with me!

(UK, Australia, New Zealand, vulgar, slang) Annoyed.


tangata whenua

/ˌtaŋətə fɛˈnʊə/

From Maori tangata whenua (“people of the land”).

bor

In the next two decades, however, the demographic, economic and political impact of the new colonists would transform the country in ways that the tangata whenua could never have foreseen.

2003, Michael King, The Penguin History of Aotearoa New Zealand, Penguin, published 2023, page 179:

(New Zealand) Local or indigenous people; specifically, the Maori.


uplift

en-verb

uplift (third-person singular simple present uplifts, present participle uplifting, simple past and past participle uplifted)

uplifts (present singular third-person)
uplifting (participle present)
uplifted (participle past)
uplifted (past)

извисявам

to raise something or someone to a higher level

In an affidavit supporting an application for a court order to uplift the child, a social worker said there were ongoing family violence issues between the baby's mother and father.

2019 May 9, “Taken by the state: Don't take my baby”, in Stuff:

(New Zealand) To remove (a child) from a damaging home environment by a social welfare organization.


RCA

en-noun

RCA (countable and uncountable, plural RCAs)

(New Zealand) Initialism of road controlling authority.


daddy longlegs

daddy longlegs (plural daddy longlegs or daddy longlegses)

daddy longlegs (plural)
daddy longlegses (plural)
daddy-longlegs (alternative)
daddy-long-legs (alternative)

/ˈdædɪ ˈlɒŋ(ɡ)lɛɡz/

From daddy + longlegs. First attested in 1810s. Preceded by father longlegs, attested from 1740s.

Unlike spiders, daddy longlegs do not have a clearly marked division between thorax and abdomen. They are further distinguished from spiders in that they do not produce venom or silk.

2002, Maurice Burton, Robert Burton, The International Wildlife Encyclopedia, volume 10, page 636:

Daddy longlegs aren′t even really spiders.

2004, Clay Thompson, Marshall Trimble, The Valley 101 Great Big Book of Life, page 33:

(Australia, Canada, New Zealand, US) Any (non-spider) arachnid of the order Opiliones, mostly with long thin legs.


gummy

(Australia, New Zealand) A sheep that is losing or has lost its teeth.


ACC

Accident Compensation Corporation
w:Accident Compensation Corporation

(New Zealand) Initialism of Accident Compensation Corporation.

(New Zealand, by extension) Initialism of the accident compensation scheme, administered by the Accident Compensation Corporation.


freeloader

freeloaders (plural)
free-loader (alternative)

From free + load + -er, originally US 1930s.

(UK, New Zealand, Canada) A person who takes expired unsold merchandise from the back of supermarket premises.


takeaway

takeaways (plural)
take-away (alternative)

If you're hungry, there's a takeaway just around the corner.

2005, Amsterdam, Time Out, page 129,
The wonderful, and deeply filling, world of Dutch broodjes (sandwiches) has its greatest champion in this takeaway, one of the very few that still features proper homemade meat and fish salads in your bun, rather than the almost ubiquitous factory prepared product that′s taken over the sandwich market.

Some of the cheapest places to eat in Kampala are the ubiquitous takeaways that dot the city centre.

2006, Mary Fitzpatrick, Tom Parkinson, Nick Ray, East Africa, Lonely Planet, page 479:

(chiefly UK, Australia, South Africa and New Zealand) A restaurant that sells food to be eaten elsewhere.

წასაღებად

restaurant selling food to be eaten elsewhere

restaurante de manducatoria para recoger

I fancy an Indian takeaway tonight.

Good Italian cuisine & friendly service. Also does takeaways, including pizza.

2008, Annalisa Rellie, Tricia Hayne, Turks & Caicos Islands, Bradt Travel Guides, page 99:

2008, The Complete Residents′ Guide: Los Angeles, Explorer Publishing, page 315,
Pizza and Thai food are popular delivery and takeaway choices, but there are a number of options.

(chiefly UK, Australia and New Zealand) A meal which has been purchased and has been carefully packaged as to be taken and consumed elsewhere.


take-away

The small scale of Chinese take-aways is an important factor in making these businesses viable for families.

(chiefly UK, Australia and New Zealand) A takeout restaurant, or food from such restaurant.


dink

(Australia, New Zealand) Honest, fair, true.

(Australia, New Zealand) Genuine, proper, fair dinkum.


dink

Are you The Banjo? Fair dink no bull? Oh, sorry, lady, I mean ... dinki-di?

2006, Pip Wilson, Face in the Street, page 323:

(Australia, New Zealand) Honestly, truly.


revision

revision (countable and uncountable, plural revisions)

Borrowed from French révision, from Latin revīsiō.

All that last minute revision really paid off in the exam! I got top marks!

2008, Philip A. Kalra, editor, Essential Revision Notes in Medicine for Students, volume 1:

(UK, Australia, New Zealand) The action or process of reviewing something previously learned, especially one′s notes in preparation for a test or examination.

review

New Zealand: reviewing something previously learned


utu

Utu determined that relations among individuals, and between families, communities and tribes, were governed by mutual obligation and an implicit keeping of social accounts […].

2003, Michael King, The Penguin History of Aotearoa New Zealand, Penguin, published 2023, page 68:

Utu demanded that both favors and grievances be repaid in kind, but it was the grievances, naturally, that caused the most trouble.

2008, Christina Thompson, Come on Shore and We Will Kill and Eat You All, Bloomsbury, published 2009, page 129:

The match had been touted as a chance for utu after the 1999 and 2007 All Blacks World Cup defeats.

2011 September 19, Andrew Alderson, New Zealand Herald:

(New Zealand) Compensation for a wrong suffered; reciprocal exchange or payment; (loosely), payback, revenge.


grill

en-verb

grill (third-person singular simple present grills, present participle grilling, simple past and past participle grilled)

grills (present singular third-person)
grilling (participle present)
grilled (participle past)
grilled (past)
grille (alternative)

1655, from French gril, from Middle French gril, from Old French greïl, graïl (“gridiron”), from graïlle (“grate, grating”), from Latin crātīcula (“gridiron”), diminutive of crātis (“hurdle, wickerwork”), q.v. Related to griddle, hurdle.

Bradly hung the fowl in a sugar-bag for to-morrow's dinner and set about grilling chops, with tomatoes stuffed with cheese and breadcrumbs in the pan.

1938, Norman Lindsay, Age of Consent, 1st Australian edition, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, published 1962, →OCLC, page 139:

(transitive, Australia, New Zealand, UK) To cook food under the element of a stove or only under the top element of an oven – (US) broil, (cooking) salamander.


puku

He groaned loud with his mouth open. Then he wet himself. And then he rolled over on to his puku.

2011, Anahera Gildea, Anita Tipene, Ann French, Huia Short Stories 9: Contemporary Maori Fiction, volume 9:


hui

[…] accounts of the proceedings of important huis at which Maori leaders took the initiative in discussing their educational and vocational needs […].

“I even started training as a seminarian. It lasted till I met Hana at an interchurch hui.”

1983, Keri Hulme, The Bone People, Penguin, published 1986, page 229:

[T]ribal leaders […] organised a series of hui in 1950 to celebrate the 600th anniversary of the arrival of the Great Fleet, which by this time had grown to nine canoes.

2003, Michael King, The Penguin History of Aotearoa New Zealand, Penguin, published 2023, page 33:

(New Zealand) A Māori social gathering or assembly.

Shelley's document hadn't mentioned the billionaire at all, and although Mira had said at the hui that Lemoine used the airstrip frequently, she'd seemed to suggest that the farm was his destination, not his point of departure, whicvh would imply that he was living somewhere else.

2023, Eleanor Catton, Birnam Wood, page 154:

(New Zealand, by extension) A meeting to discuss plans held by an organization, especially one that considers itself progressive.


fadge

Uncertain, but potentially from or related to Old English faċġ (“flat-fish, plaice, flounder”).

(New Zealand) A wool pack, traditionally made of jute, now often synthetic.


convenor

(UK, Australia, New Zealand) A lecturer who takes on the mantle of managing a specific course.


bagman

The accused are only the latest in a string of alleged bagmen, vote-riggers and ward-heelers charged with wrongdoing.

2006 September 15, James Graff, “In France, a Vintage Chirac Scandal is Uncorked”, in Time:

(US, Australia, New Zealand, informal) A person who collects, transports, or distributes illicit money, especially for the purpose of bribery, extortion, or the making of other improper payments.


sneaker

From sneak + -er. The shoes sense is a reference to the quietness of the shoes.

(US, Atlantic Canada, Australia, New Zealand) An athletic shoe with a soft, rubber sole. A trainer.


turps

Clipping of turpentine + -s (diminutive suffix).

Generally, big nights on the turps take place in The Rocks and around Kings Cross — where you'll hear and smell the action pretty quickly.

2005, Paul Smitz, Australia & New Zealand on a Shoestring, page 72:

Crazy sessions on the turps were all part of the culture.

2006, Gregor Paul, Hard Men Fight Back: Kiwi Sportsmen Who Beat the Odds to Live Their Dream, page 199:

She caught my eye, and called out, “Just showing off the studio. Keep the turps flowing.”

2010, Alex Bartoli, Rachel: A Story of Obsessive Love : A Novel, page 110:

(slang, Australia, New Zealand) Any alcoholic drink.


afghan

(Australia, New Zealand) A type of iced chocolate biscuit, sometimes containing cornflakes and topped with a walnut.


bonnet

→ Scottish Gaelic: bonaid

From Middle English bonet, from Middle French bonet (Modern French bonnet), from Old French bonet (“material from which hats are made”), from Frankish *bunni (“that which is bound”), from Proto-Germanic *bundiją (“bundle”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰendʰ- (“to tie”).
Compare also Late Latin abbonis, obbonis (“ribbon of a headdress”), also of Germanic origin, from Frankish *obbunni, from *ob- (“above, over”) + *bunni.
Cognate with Old High German gibunt (“band, ribbon”), Middle Dutch bont (“bundle, truss”), Gothic 𐌲𐌰𐌱𐌿𐌽𐌳𐌹 (gabundi, “bond”). More at over, bundle.

der

The car is burgundy red, wide and elegant, ten years old but still the boys are impressed and they run to touch it, pressing sticky handprints against the polished bodywork and trying to climb up onto the bonnet.

2003, Jon McGregor, If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things, page 189:

People were reluctant to slam a bonnet shut in those days. One just did not slam bonnets and doors.

2004, David Spencer, quoted in Don Loffler, The FJ Holden: A Favourite Australian Car, page 217:

By about 20 ms, there is contact between the bonnet leading edge and the pedestrian upper leg/pelvis on the struck side, the severity of which depends on the vehicle shape.

2009, Ciaran Simms, Denis Wood, Pedestrian and Cyclist Impact: A Biomechanical Perspective, page 38:

Stoll was still standing on the car bonnet with the catch of his large-calibre repeating rifle off.

2009, Stefan Aust, Anthea Bell, Baader-Meinhof: the inside story of the R.A.F., page 308:

(Australia, British, New Zealand, South Africa, Commonwealth, automotive) The hinged cover over the engine of a motor car; a hood.


mateship

en-noun

mateship (usually uncountable, plural mateships)

From mate + -ship. Cognate with Dutch maatschap (“partnership”).

In traditional Australian culture, “mateship” was expected to bind people not only with their “best mates” or their “great mates” but also with their fellow-miners, fellow-shearers, fellow-“diggers”, fellow-soldiers, or fellow-footballers, and this expectation is one of this culture′s most enduring and characteristic features.¹⁹

1997, Anna Wierzbicka, Understanding Cultures Through Their Key Words: English, Russian, Polish, German, and Japanese, page 117:

While the camaraderie of war is usually an unspoken assumption, it seems peculiar that mateship, usually considered to be the core of the digger ethos and the ‘spirit of the Anzac’, barely appears in the diggers′ own expressions at this time.

2004, Graham Seal, Inventing Anzac: The Digger And National Mythology, page 77:

A significant element of masculinity in Australian cultural history, and therefore Australian film, is mateship.[…]In times of war, mateship was a measure of the quality of relationship, as a mate was one whom a soldier would happily accompany into the jungle; that is, one who would be dependable and able to offer support.

2009, Albert Moran, Errol Vieth, The A to Z of Australian and New Zealand Cinema, page 186:

The bush is the crucible of Australian national identity because it is here that mateship, that linchpin of Australian national identity, was forged.

2011, Rod Giblett, People and Places of Nature and Culture, page 127:

(uncountable, Australia, New Zealand) Friendship, particularly between men, such as develops in shared adversity; solidarity.


bludge

A friend offered him a job working as a handyman in his carpet factory – a Mr Fix-it. Effectively off the bludge and back on track.

2007, Anne Barry, Playing with Fire, page 136:

(Australia, New Zealand, slang) The act of bludging.

Oh, my name is Gecko and I just thought the whole unit was a bludge, sometimes it got really boring. But like I said I could just fall asleep and let my group members do all the work. And still almost pass.

1997, Wendy Morgan, Critical Literacy in the Classroom: The Art of the Possible, page 145:

‘Seriously, you′ve got sheep at school?’ I said.
‘Yeah, heaps of kids here do Ag. Reckon it′s a big bludge, like drama.’

(Australia, New Zealand, slang) Easy work, especially a subject at school that requires little effort.


bludge

en-verb

bludge (third-person singular simple present bludges, present participle bludging, simple past and past participle bludged)

bludges (present singular third-person)
bludging (participle present)
bludged (participle past)
bludged (past)

(Australia, New Zealand, slang) To not earn one's keep, to live off someone else or off welfare when one could be working.

The second last Thursday in first term of Year Nine, Jason and I bludged school for the first time together. It wasn't Jason's first time. He bludged school regularly, but I never used to miss days unless I was really sick.

1999, Tony Shillitoe, Joy Ride, page 64:

One of the mess orderlies had consistently bludged on the rest of us all day.

2002, Donald Friend, edited by Anne Gray, The Diaries of Donald Friend, volume 1, page 343:

(Australia, New Zealand, slang) To avoid one's responsibilities; to leave it to others to perform duties that one is expected to perform.

We had the member for Piako saying as recently as last year, when dealing with social security benefits and increases, “I feel myself that when we have able-bodied men and women who would bludge and draw the pension, there is something wrong.”

1967, New Zealand House of Representatives, Parliamentary Debates, page 3164:

Now, you get back out there and you bludge! I don't want to see anyone working, OK? I don't want to see any pick-axes, any hammers, or nothing.

1998, Marion Halligan, Rosanne Fitzgibbon, The gift of story: Three decades of UQP short stories, page 96:

I mean, school′s like a job. If you work for it you get your grades; if you work your hours you get your money. But if you bludge, you don't get money; if you bludge you don't get any grades. That's something that I didn't realize when I was young.

2004, John SmythRobert Hattamet al., ‘Dropping Out,’ Drifting Off, Being Excluded: Becoming Somebody Without School, page 53:

(Australia, New Zealand, slang) To do nothing, to be idle, especially when there is work to be done.

Can I bludge a cigarette off you?

Gabriel was a classic bludger. He was a drop-out in the very modern sense of the word. The Rossettis were anything but well-heeled. Solid old brother William kept the show on the road. Gabriel bludged on the family. He bludged on his mates.

1983, Max Harris, The Unknown Great Australian and other psychobiographical portraits, page 105:

Now an adult with his own family, this man has become conscious of different norms among his children's white friends, and that whites often see sharing as bludging.

2004, Gillian Cowlishaw, Blackfellas, Whitefellas, and the Hidden Injuries of Race, page 135:

(Australia, New Zealand, slang) To take some benefit and give nothing in return.


luncheon

en-noun

luncheon (countable and uncountable, plural luncheons)

luncheons (plural)
lunching (alternative obsolete)

From earlier lunching, of uncertain origin.
Possibly related to lunch, q.v. It is unclear which came first. Possibly influenced by nuncheon (“light snack taken in the afternoon”).
The "sausage" sense is probably a shortening of luncheon sausage or luncheon meat.

Filled Roll (x2) 1x luncheon, tomato, lettuce, and mayonnaise / 1x cheese and onion

2014 June 3, John Pratt, Anna Eriksson, “Understanding differences in punishment”, in Contrasts in Punishment: An Explanation of Anglophone Excess and Nordic Exceptionalism, Taylor & Francis, →ISBN, page 31:

(New Zealand) A large, cheap, processed sausage served in thin slices.


indicator

From Late Latin indicātor (“one who points out”), from Latin indicō (“point out”). By surface analysis, indicate + -or; see indicate.

der

(UK, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, South Africa, automotive) A turn signal; each of the flashing lights on each side of a vehicle which indicate a turn is being made to left or right, or a lane change etc.


All Blacks

(New Zealand) The national rugby union representative team of New Zealand


bags

en-verb

bags (third-person singular simple present bagses, present participle bagsing, simple past and past participle bagsed)

bagses (present singular third-person)
bagsing (participle present)
bagsed (participle past)
bagsed (past)
baggs (alternative)

Grammatical extension of third-person singular form of bag (“make first claim on something”).

So you were thrilled, and we picked out the mare for Harriet, and you bagsed the black, and I had the chestnut, and we all rode away one day.

2006, Jill Golden, Inventing Beatrice, page 81:

Mum bagsed being the priestess who got to dangle Stone over the volcano by his ankles.

2007, Debra Oswald., Getting Air, page 66:

Battered armchairs and a sofa were bagsed first; they were more comfortable than the school chairs that could get hard.

2008, Kate Dellar-Evans, Best of Friends: The First Thirty Years of the Friendly Street Poets, page 13:

‘Hey, it′s my turn in the front,’ Kalista called as she realised her brother had bagsed the front seat.

They used to share the water as kids, and for some reason Irene always managed to bags the first bath; Riva made do with the soapy second.

2016, Laurence Fearnley, The Quiet Spectacular, →ISBN, page 214:

(Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, UK) To reserve for oneself.


biff

biff (third-person singular simple present biffs, present participle biffing, simple past and past participle biffed)

biffs (present singular third-person)
biffing (participle present)
biffed (participle past)
biffed (past)

(Atlantic Canada, New Zealand, slang, transitive) To discard; to throw out; to throw away.


yardie

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

(Australia, New Zealand, slang) A yard of ale.


wonky

en-adj

wonky (comparative wonkier, superlative wonkiest)

wonkier (comparative)
wonkiest (superlative)

From English dialectal wanky, alteration of Middle English wankel (“unstable, shaky”), from Old English wancol (“unstable”), from Proto-West Germanic *wankul (“swaying, shaky, unstable”).

inh

It seemed likely that he would need First Aid when those wonky steps yielded, at length, to the well-known law of gravitation.

1932, Frank Richards, The Magnet: The Terror of the Form:

(chiefly British, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland) Feeble, shaky or rickety.


-z

Rhotacism of /ɹ/. Attested since at least 1987.

Barry + -z → Baz

Sharon + -z → Shaz

Jeremy + -z → Jez

(UK, Australia, New Zealand) Forms nicknames, especially of personal names.


fluff

en-noun

fluff (countable and uncountable, plural fluffs)

From earlier floow (“woolly substance, down, nap, lint”), also spelt flough, flue, and flew, from West Flemish vluwe,
of uncertain ultimate origin:
* Compare Old English flōh (“that which is flown off, fragment, piece”) - see flaw
* Possibly representing a blend of flue + puff; compare Middle Dutch vloe, or perhaps onomatopoeic; compare dialectal English floose, flooze, fleeze (“particles of wool or cotton; fluff; loose threads or fibres”), Danish fnug (“down, fluff”), Swedish fnugg (“speck, flake”).
* Alternatively, West Flemish vluwe may derive from French velu (“hairy, furry”), from Latin villūtus (“having shaggy hair”), from villus (“shaggy hair, tuft of hair”).
For words of similar sound and meaning in other languages, compare Japanese フワフワ (fuwafuwa, “lightly, softly”), Hungarian puha (“soft, fluffy”), Polish puchaty (“soft, fluffy”), Romanian puf (“down, peachfuzz, soft hair of some animals, powderpuff”).

onomatopoeic

onomatopoeic

cog

(Australia, New Zealand, Canada, euphemistic) A fart.


enrol

en-verb

enrol (third-person singular simple present enrols, present participle enrolling, simple past and past participle enrolled)

enrols (present singular third-person)
enrolling (participle present)
enrolled (participle past)
enrolled (past)

(British, New Zealand, Australia, Ireland, Canada) Standard spelling of enroll.


trifecta

In fact, there are about a dozen states, including California, Massachusetts, Washington, and Illinois, where Democrats have won the trifecta—they control the governor's seat as well as both houses of the state legislature.

2013 June 26, Steven Hill, “So the Voting Rights Act Is Gutted—What Can Protect Minority Voters Now?”, in The Atlantic:

It’s not just Florida, of course. Republican trifectas in states across the country have introduced and passed dozens of bills aimed at the public existence of trans and other gender-nonconforming people.

2023 December 12, Jamelle Bouie, “Red States and Blue States Are Becoming Different Countries”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

(US politics) The complete legislative and executive control of state or federal government by one party: governorship, the upper house, and the lower house of state or federal legislatures.

trifekta

control by one party of the federal or state government