| Aussie Words |
Definitions |
Comments |
| a over t |
Arse over tit, head over heels |
|
| A'sia |
Australasia (Australia plus New Zealand) |
|
| abo |
Derogatory slang for Aborigine |
|
| act |
Pretending to be something you're not |
|
| aerial pingpong |
Australian Rules football |
|
| agates |
Testicles |
|
| aggro |
Aggressive |
|
| alf |
Stupid person |
|
| alligator |
Freshwater crocodile |
(So those early pommies were no naturalists!) |
| amber fluid |
Beer |
|
| ankle biter |
Small child |
|
| antipodes |
Places on exactly opposite sides of the earth |
|
| ANZAC |
Soldier from Australia New Zealand Army Corps |
|
| apple eater |
Resident of Tasmania |
|
| apples, she'll be |
It'll be alright |
|
| arvo |
Afternoon |
|
| Aussie (pronounced "ozzie") |
Australian |
|
| Aussie salute |
Brushing away flies with the hand |
|
| avagoyermug |
Traditional rallying call, often heard at cricket matches (contraction of "Have |
|
| avos |
Avocados |
|
| award wage |
Minimum pay rate |
|
| B & S |
Bachelors and Spinsters Ball - a dance cum piss-up |
Sorry, the perils of a Latin education (cum = with, in Latin) |
| B-bows |
(Old fashioned) hand shears |
The spring between the 2 blades is shaped like a letter B |
| back of beyond |
Far away in the outback |
|
| back of Bourke |
The middle of nowhere |
|
| backblocks |
The remote interior of the country |
|
| bag |
Lady who is not particularly pleasant |
|
| bail (somebody) up |
To corner somebody physically |
|
| bail out |
Depart, usually angrily |
|
| bail up |
Hold up, rob, earbash |
Comes from dairy farming - 'crushing' cows for milking |
| ball-tearer |
Wonderful thing |
|
| banana bender |
Resident of Queensland |
|
| bandicoot |
Australian marsupial - pointy nose, size of large rat |
Adoption of Indian (Telegu) word 'pandikokku' = 'pig-rat' = bandicota indica |
| barbie (barbecue) |
Like a cook out |
Spanish origin, 'barbacoa, from Arawak language |
| Barcoo |
Far outback (Barcoo R. region of western Queensland) |
|
| barney |
Fight or scuffle |
|
| barrack |
To cheer on a team at a sporting event |
Can also mean: banter, provocative or derisive language - cognate … but to … not derived from borak? |
| bastard |
General form of address which can mean practically anything from highest praise |
|
| bathers |
Swimming costume (Victoria and South Australia) |
|
| battler |
Hard trier, struggler |
|
| bear |
Colonial era: (native) bear = koala |
Koala is a marsupial, not a bear |
| beaut, beauty, bewdie |
Very good |
|
| belt up! |
Shut up! |
|
| berko |
Angry |
|
| bible basher |
Minister, or any proselytising Christian |
|
| bickie |
Dollar |
|
| big mobs |
Large amount, heaps |
|
| big-note oneself |
Brag, boast |
|
| bikies |
Motorcyclists |
|
| bikkie |
Biscuit (also "it cost big bikkies" - it was expensive) |
|
| billabong |
An ox-bow river or watering hole |
East coast Aboriginal languages = dead water |
| billy |
Large tin can used to boil water over a campfire for tea |
|
| bities |
Biting insects |
|
| bitumen |
Surfaced road |
|
| bitzer |
Mongrel dog (bits of this and bits of that) |
|
| bizzo |
Business ("mind your own bizzo") |
|
| black stump, beyond the |
A long way away, the back of nowhere |
|
| black velvet |
(Originally illicit) relations of white male and black female |
|
| block |
Block has a few meanings but the more Aussie one is your head |
|
| bloke |
Person, usually a male |
|
| bloody |
All-purpose intensifying adjective |
|
| bloody oath! |
That's certainly true |
|
| blooming |
Low level intensive (not quite bloody!) |
|
| blow in the bag |
Have a breathalyzer test |
|
| blowie |
Blow fly |
|
| bludge |
Not doing anything or getting things from others |
|
| bludger |
Lazy person |
|
| blue |
A fight |
|
| blue a cheque |
Spend your wages in a glorious booze-up (NOT = blew!) |
Thus "Blued his cheque" not "Blew his cheque" |
| blue, make a |
Make a mistake |
|
| bluey |
A swag, blanket roll |
Army blankets were grey-blue wool |
| bluey |
Blue cattle dog (named after its subtle markings) |
|
| bluey |
Traffic ticket or redhead person |
|
| board |
The timber floor on which sheep are shorn in a shearing shed |
|
| bodgy |
Of inferior quality |
This is from earlier word 'bodger' - self-employed woodworker |
| bonzer |
Great, ripper |
|
| boobook |
Australian bird - ninox novaeseelaniae - in the owl family, but more like a stur |
|
| boogie board |
A hybrid, half-sized surf board |
|
| boomer |
Very large; a particularly large male kangaroo |
|
| boomerang |
Curved flat wooden instrument used by Aborigines for hunting |
Throwing stick: hunting boomerangs don't return. Returning type a thrown to scare birds down to the ground where they are caught. |
| booze |
Alcohol, usually beer |
|
| booze bus |
Police vehicle used for catching drunk drivers |
|
| boozer |
A pub |
Also a drinker |
| borak |
(Borack, borax) nonsense, emphatic negation |
Pidgin, from Wathwurung burag … not from barrack...? |
| bored shitless |
Very bored |
|
| boss of the board |
Shearing contractor or supervisor |
|
| bottle shop |
Liquor shop |
|
| bottle-o |
Liquor shop |
Also a dealer in second hand bottles |
| bottler |
Something excellent |
|
| bottling, his blood's worth |
He's an excellent, helpful bloke |
|
| bowyang (boyang) |
Cord, thong or strap round trouser leg, below knee |
Brit. Dialect 'booyang' |
| brass razoo, he hasn't got a |
He's very poor |
|
| breaker |
Specialist horse tamer/trainer |
Pen-name of poet Harry 'Breaker' Morant |
| brekkie |
Breakfast |
|
| brick shit house, built like a |
Big strong bloke |
|
| brizzie |
Brisbane, state capital of Queensland |
|
| brolga |
Australian native crane - elaborate courtship dance resemble 'quadrille', square |
|
| brown-eyed mullet |
A turd in the sea (where you're swimming!) |
|
| brownie (browny) |
Sweetened currant bread - a 'bush' treat |
|
| brumby |
A wild horse |
|
| buck's night |
Stag party, male gathering the night before the wedding |
|
| Buckley's |
No chance at all |
|
| Buckley's, Buckley's chance |
No chance ("New Zealand stands Buckley's of beating Australia at football") |
|
| bug (Moreton Bay bug) |
Small crab |
|
| bull bar |
Stout bar fixed to the front of a vehicle to protect it against hitting kangaroo |
Or bulls! |
| bull dust |
Fine and sometimes deep dust on outback roads |
|
| bullamanka |
Imaginary place even beyond back of Bourke, way beyond the black stump |
|
| bullock |
Ox |
A castrated bull used as a draught animal |
| bullocky, bullockie |
Bullock driver - carter operating with a team of bullocks and a dray |
|
| bun in the oven |
Pregnant |
|
| bundy |
Short for Bundaberg, Queensland, and the brand of rum that's made there |
|
| bung |
Crook, broken |
Eastern Aboriginal = dead |
| bunny |
Rabbit, a mug, a swindler's victim |
3rd sense cognate with 18th c. London sense of 'coney' |
| bunyip |
Mythical outback creature |
Inhabits swamps and billabongs |
| burl |
Have a try, as in "give it a burl" |
Scots dialect: burl = twirl, spin … Aussie usage via two-up call 'give it a burl' = have a bet, chance your arm |
| bush |
Somewhere in the country or away from the city |
It's all either "Sydney … or the bush" |
| bush telegraph |
Gossip network |
|
| bush tucker |
Native foods, usually in the outback |
|
| bushbash |
Force one's way through pathless bush |
|
| bushie |
Someone who lives in the Bush |
|
| bushranger |
Highwayman, outlaw |
Originally (c. 1788) a 'trusty' convict given a gun and told to go an shoot something for food .. Oddly enough, a lot of them did not come back - at least until they ran out of powder and shot! |
| bushwhacker |
Someone living rough in the Bush |
Not an ambusher - the US sense |
| butcher's |
To look |
|
| BYO |
Bring Your Own (booze to a restaurant, meat to a barbecue, etc |
|
| caaarn! |
Traditional rallying cry at football games (contraction of "Come on!") |
|
| cabbage tree hat |
Hat sewn from coil of plaited cabbage tree palm leaf |
Proverbially tough and long-lasting … very expensive … the badge of the native-born colonial |
| camp oven |
Large, cast-iron pot with a lid, for cooking on an open fire |
|
| Captain Cook |
To have a look |
|
| cark it |
To die, cease functioning |
|
| cask |
Wine box |
Australian "invention" - first ones were a collapsing sack inside a tinplate cylinder painted with a cask stave pattern (c. 1966/7?) |
| cheque |
Payment for the season's/job's work (US 'check') |
|
| chiko roll |
Australian junk food |
|
| choke a darkie |
Defecate |
|
| chokkie |
Chocolate |
|
| chook |
A chicken (adult domestic fowl / hen) |
|
| chrissie |
Christmas |
|
| Christmas |
See Bourke Street |
|
| chuck a sickie |
Take the day off sick from work when you're perfectly healthy |
|
| chuck a u-ey |
Make a U-turn |
|
| chunder |
Vomit, drive the porcelain bus, kerbside quiche, pavement pizza, liquid laugh, r |
|
| clay pan |
Dry salt lake bed |
|
| Clayton's |
Fake, substitute |
|
| cleanskin |
Unbranded cattle |
|
| click |
Kilometre - "it's 10 clicks away" |
|
| cliner |
Girlfriend of a city larrikin, c. 1900 |
(from German 'kleine') |
| clip |
Entirety of the season's wool shorn from sheep |
|
| clobber |
Clothes; to hit |
|
| cobber |
Friend |
|
| cobbler |
Tough, old, wrinkled sheep you shear last (if at all) / the last sheep in a run |
Cobblers' last - sort of rhyming slang |
| cockie |
Farmer |
|
| cockroach |
A person from New South Wales |
|
| cocky |
Small-scale farmer |
Earlier: 'cockatoo farmer' |
| coldie |
A beer |
|
| colonial experience man |
(Usually) English apprentice grazier - working for keep, but learning the coloni |
|
| combo |
White man cohabiting with Aboriginal woman |
(Illegal, in early 20th c., under "Native Protection Act") |
| come a gutser |
Make a bad mistake, have an accident |
|
| come good |
Turn out all right |
|
| compo |
Workers' Compensation pay |
|
| conk |
To hit someone (archaic) |
|
| cooee |
Bush greeting |
|
| cooee, not within |
Figuratively a long way away, far off - England weren't within cooee of beating |
|
| coolabah |
Type of box eucalyptus tree |
Not actually providing much shade (Paterson's irony) |
| coolgardie safe |
Box for storing perishable foods, cooled by non-mechanical evaporation |
|
| copper |
Policeman |
|
| cornstalk |
(Old - colonial period) name for New South Wales resident - refers to height of |
|
| corroboree |
Aboriginal meeting, with ceremonial dancing |
|
| counter lunch |
Pub lunch |
|
| counter meal, countery |
Pub meal |
|
| cove |
The boss of a station (~ ranch) - the cove in charge … |
A bit more polite than the Cockney sense of 'rogue' |
| cow |
Also means anything that is difficult |
|
| cow cocky |
Small-scale cattle farmer |
|
| cozzie |
Swimming costume (New South Wales) |
|
| cradle (noun & verb) |
(wash auriferous soil in) riffled tub on curved feet to separate out the gold |
|
| cranky |
In a bad mood, angry |
Varies state to state + means 'crazy', 'eccentric' in Tasmania |
| cream (verb) |
Defeat by a large margin |
|
| creek |
A (usually) seasonal watercourse |
Not the Scots sense of a bay or inlet on a coast - close to the US sense |
| crook |
Ill, badly made, substandard |
|
| crow eater |
A person from South Australia |
|
| cut lunch |
Sandwiches |
|
| cut snake, mad as a |
Very angry |
|
| dag |
A funny person, nerd, goof |
|
| dag, daggy |
Dirty lump of wool at the back end of a sheep, also an affectionate or mildly ab |
|
| daks |
Trousers |
|
| damper |
Bush loaf made from flour and water cooked in a camp oven |
|
| Darling pea |
Staggers (usually the stock) from eating poisonous plant |
Appears in 'All For My Grog' |
| dead horse |
Tomato sauce |
|
| deadset |
True, the truth |
|
| deli |
Delicatessen |
|
| demon |
Policeman, detective |
Originally a Tasmanian (Vandemonian) ex-convict recruited into the colonial police force |
| dero |
Tramp, hobo, homeless person (from "derelict") |
|
| didgeridoo |
Cylindrical musical instrument played usually by Aboriginal men |
Women are forbidden to play didge in Aboriginal culture because the muscular contractions of playing can cause abortion … ! |
| digger |
A soldier - typically from Australia or New Zealand |
Term is a goldrush legacy |
| dill |
Idiot |
|
| dillybag |
Small bag to carry things |
|
| dingo |
Australian native dog, (tranf.) an untrustworthy person or coward |
|
| dinkum, fair dinkum |
Genuine or honest |
|
| dinky-di |
The real thing, genuine |
|
| dipstick |
A loser, idiot |
|
| divvy van |
Police divisional van |
|
| do your nana |
Lose your rag, spit the dummy, lose your temper |
|
| dob (somebody) in |
Inform on somebody |
|
| docket |
A bill, receipt |
|
| doco |
Documentary |
|
| dog |
Unattractive woman |
|
| dole bludger |
Somebody on social assistance when unjustified |
|
| don't come the raw prawn |
Don't try to fool me |
|
| donah |
A girl, to a city larrikin, c. 1900 |
(from Portugese 'dona' ?) |
| donger |
Penis |
|
| donk |
Car or boat engine |
|
| doodle |
Penis |
|
| doozey |
Something very pleasant |
|
| doughboy |
Flour dumpling |
British dialect / navy slang |
| down south |
The rest of Australia, according to someone north of Brisbane, Queensland |
|
| Down Under |
Australia and New Zealand |
|
| drink with the flies |
To drink alone |
|
| drinking down the cheque |
Drinking alcohol ontil all the wages have been squandered |
|
| drive the porcelain bus |
Vomit |
|
| drongo |
Worthless or stupid person |
North Australian bird that flies south (towards colder regions!) in summer …? |
| drover |
Person driving large herds of cattle or sheep across Australia |
|
| drum |
Information, tip-off ("I'll give you the drum") |
|
| drum (hump the) |
(Carry a) swag |
|
| Dry, the |
Dry season in the north, April to November |
|
| duco |
Car paint |
Brand name |
| duffer, cattle |
Rustler |
|
| dukies (and duchesses) |
Pickpockets |
Earn their living with their 'dooks' |
| dummy, spit the |
Get very upset at something |
|
| dungarees |
Workingman's clothes/overalls |
Named for a coarse Indian calico (Hindi 'dungri') … a social indicator in colonial days |
| dunny |
Outdoor lavatory |
|
| dunny budgies |
Blow flies |
|
| dunny rat, cunning as a |
Very cunning |
|
| durry |
Cigarette |
|
| earbash |
Non-stop talk |
|
| eastern states |
The rest of Australia, according to someone in Western Australia |
|
| Enzedder |
New zealander |
|
| esky |
Large insulated box for keeping beer cool |
|
| evo |
Evening |
|
| ewe |
Female sheep, corruption is 'yoe' or similar |
|
| exy |
Expensive |
|
| fair crack of the whip! |
Fair go! |
|
| fair dinkum |
Genuine or honest |
|
| fair go |
A chance ("give a bloke a fair go") |
|
| fairy floss |
Candy floss, cotton candy |
|
| FIGJAM |
F*ck I'm good; just ask me |
|
| financial |
To be flush with cash |
|
| FJ |
Most revered Holden car |
|
| flake |
Shark meat, used in fish and chips |
|
| flaming |
All-purpose intensifying adjective |
(A safer "f" word) |
| flash |
Very fancy, overly fashionable ('lairy') |
"Flash as a rat with a gold tooth" |
| flat out |
As fast as possible |
|
| floater |
Meat pie floating in pea soup, viewed by Australians either as a great delicacy or as a great emetic |
|
| flog |
Sell; steal |
This once meant to pawn, back in the '50s/early '60s - I remember people baulking at my use of the sense steal … |
| footy |
Australian Rules football |
|
| fossick |
To hunt for gemstones |
Or gold … or any other mineral ... |
| fossicking |
Searching, rummaging ("fossicking through the kitchen drawers") |
|
| freckle |
Anus |
|
| from arsehole to breakfast |
All over the place |
|
| fruit loop |
Fool |
|
| full |
Drunk |
|
| furphy |
A rumour or a false story |
|
| g'day |
A greeting |
|
| gaffer |
(Lesser) Boss … usually a supervisor or shed boss |
N. English dialect - US usage is head lighting tech on film set … thus "gaffer tape" - specially made to hang film lights from rough surfaces |
| galah |
Noisy parrot, thus noisy idiot |
|
| game |
Brave |
|
| gander |
Have a look |
|
| gaol |
Australian and British variant spelling of "jail" |
|
| garbo |
Garbage collector |
|
| garbo, garbologist |
Municipal garbage collector |
|
| gibber, gibby |
Stony desert (that's originally a 'gibber plain' or 'gibber country - 'gibber' i |
Sydney region Aboriginal word for stone (Dharuk - 'giba') |
| gidgee |
Rough, dry country, characterized by tough acacia scrub called gidgee |
Aboriginal (Yuwaalaraay) word for 'spear wood' |
| give it a burl |
Try it, have a go |
|
| give it away |
Give up |
|
| goanna |
Australian monitor lizard |
Adaptation of S. American 'iguana' |
| going "troppo" |
Going tropical; laid-back and fun-loving; insane |
|
| good oil, good gits |
Useful information, a good idea, the truth |
Good guts? |
| good on ya! |
Well done! |
|
| good on you |
Good for you, well done |
|
| good possie |
Advantageous position |
|
| grazier |
Large-scale sheep or cattle farmer |
|
| greenhide |
Tough, untanned leather |
Equivalent to US "rawhide" |
| greenie |
Environmentalist |
|
| grizzle |
To complain |
|
| grog |
General term for alcohol, but typically beer |
Interestingly, it was originally RN term for rum, watered down to prevent sailors saving their ration up for a bender (after Admiral Grogham) |
| grouse |
Very good, unreal |
|
| gum sucker |
Resident of Victoria |
|
| gumtree |
Eucalyptus |
Smoothbarked eucalypt, not a stringybark or messmate |
| gun |
Champion (shearer) |
|
| Gunyah |
Aboriginal temporary shelter (also gunya, guneah, gunney &c) |
Aboriginal (Dharuk): 'ganya' |
| gutzer |
Some plans don't work out or to have an accident (to come a gutzer) |
|
| gyno |
Gynaecologist |
|
| handle |
Beer glass with a handle |
|
| hard yacka |
Hard work |
|
| hatter |
Person living alone and rough in the bush - maybe crazy |
"Mad as a HATTER" |
| heaps |
A lot |
|
| hire |
To rent, as "to hire a car" |
|
| his nibs |
The boss |
|
| homestead |
Residance of a station (ranch or farm) owner or manager |
|
| hooley |
Wild party |
|
| hooly-dooly |
An expression of surprise |
|
| hoon |
Idiot, hooligan, yahoo |
|
| hooroo |
Goodbye |
|
| hotel |
Often just a pub |
|
| hottie |
Hot water bottle |
|
| how are ya? |
Standard greeting |
|
| hq |
Second most revered Holden car |
|
| hump |
To carry |
|
| humping bluey |
Carrying a swag, travelling rough and light (looking for work - or tucker) |
|
| humpy |
Temporary, makeshift dwelling (originally Aboriginal shelter, gunyah) |
Aboriginal (Jagara): 'yumbi |
| icy pole |
Popsicle, lollypop |
Ice block, where I came from |
| identity |
Celebrity |
|
| iffy |
Doubtful, questionable |
|
| illywacker |
A con man who preyed on the gullible at country shows/fairs |
|
| in full feather |
In fine health |
|
| in yer boot! |
An expression of disagreement (archaic) |
|
| it's a goer |
Something that will definitely occur |
|
| Jack Shay (Jack Shea) |
Quart pot, metal drinking vessel / container |
Rhymes (to the Irish) with tea (pot) |
| jack-in-the-box |
Person who can't sit still |
|
| jackaroo |
A male station hand (a station is a big farm/grazing property) |
In station life, Jackaroo has long meant an Englishman getting 'colonial experience' (often not paid … but ate with the magager, not the men!) [Originally, ie very early colonial, it meant a white man living beyond the boundary of settlement - possibly Aboriginal word 'dhugai-iu', (Jagara)] |
| jillaroo |
A female station hand |
|
| jingoes! |
Exclamation of wonder |
|
| jocks |
Men's or boys' underpants |
|
| Joe Blake |
Snake (rhyming) |
|
| Joe Bloggs |
The average citizen |
|
| joey |
Baby kangaroo, still in the pouch |
Originally baby possum - trans. to kangaroo, then any young marsupial … eventually comes to mean child! |
| johnny cake |
Small, thin, loaf of damper (bush bread) |
Trans. from US flat oat cake |
| journo |
Journalist |
|
| jumbuck |
Sheep |
Probably an Aboriginal word for 'cloud' or 'mist' (a distant mob of sheep?) |
| jumped-up |
Full of self-importance; arrogant |
|
| kanga or kangaroo |
Shoe |
|
| keen as mustard |
Enthusiastic |
|
| kelpie |
Australian sheepdog originally bred from Scottish collie |
Breed is descended from champion short-haired collie named 'Kelpie' |
| kerb |
Alternative Australian and British spelling of "curb" |
|
| kerbside quiche |
Vomit |
|
| kerfuffle |
Argument |
|
| kero |
Kerosene |
|
| kick |
To share or join in |
|
| kick-in |
To provide your share |
|
| kindie |
Kindergarten |
|
| king brown |
Type of venomous snake or tall bottle of beer |
|
| kip |
Sleep or nap |
|
| kiwi |
New zealander |
|
| knackered |
Worn out, rooted |
|
| knackers |
Testicles (also love spuds, nuts, nads) |
|
| knock |
To criticise |
|
| knock back |
Refusal (noun), refuse (transitive verb) |
|
| knocker |
One who criticises |
|
| kombi |
Multi-purpose van-like vehicle, often modified so the back seats were folded dow |
|
| koori |
Aborigine (mostly south of the Murray River) |
Also all of NSW (except for Yuin in south east) ... Murri -then Bama to north in Queensland - Yura, then Nunga to west, in South Australia |
| lair |
Layabout, hooligan |
|
| lairise |
To behave in a vulgar, flamboyant manner |
|
| lamb-brained |
Stupid |
|
| lamington |
Sponge cake cut into squares, covered in chocolate and coconut |
|
| larrikin |
Ruffian or hoodlum, but viewed with some admiration |
|
| lay-by |
To put a deposit on an article so a shop will hold it |
|
| licensed |
Legally permitted to sell alcoholic drinks |
|
| like a bandicoot on a burnt ridge |
Lonely and vulnerable |
|
| lingo |
The language |
|
| lippy |
Lipstick |
|
| liquid laugh |
Vomit |
|
| lob, lob in |
Drop in to see someone ("the rellies have lobbed") |
|
| lollies |
Candy or sweets |
|
| lolly |
Money |
|
| London to a brick |
Absolute certainty ("it's London to a brick that taxes won't go down") |
|
| loo |
Lavatory or toilet |
English, 19th c. (Water)loo |
| lot |
The whole thing |
|
| lubra |
Aboriginal woman |
Aboriginal word (se Tasmania) 'lubara' |
| lucky country, the |
Australia, where else? |
|
| lurk |
Scheme, sometimes viewed with envy |
|
| ma stater |
Resident of New South Wales |
|
| mad |
Crazy (seldom means anger) |
|
| Mallee |
Remote bushland of Victoria, low scrub |
|
| manchester |
Household linen |
|
| mate |
This usually means a friend but it can be used to talk about or to anyone - even |
|
| mate's rate, mate's discount |
Cheaper than usual for a "friend" |
|
| matey with |
Familiar or friendly with |
|
| matilda |
The belongings of a swagman, wrapped in a blanket or bedroll |
|
| meat safe |
Ventilated fly-proof cage for storing meat carcasses without refrigeration |
|
| merino |
Breed of sheep with fine strands of fleece |
|
| metho |
Methylated spirits |
Denatured alcohol/rubbing alcohol |
| Mexican |
A person from south of the (Queensland) border |
|
| mickey mouse |
Excellent, very good |
|
| middy |
285 ml beer glass (New South Wales) |
|
| milk bar |
Corner general store |
Not NSW usage - corner shop had to have milk licence, but a 'milk bar' was principally a (milk & soft) drink shop … almost = US "drug store" |
| milko |
Milkman |
|
| mob |
Family or herd (?) of kangaroos / herd of sheep or cattle |
(transference ?) |
| mob |
Group of person or things (not necessarily unruly) |
|
| moke |
Horse (not a good one!) |
Original meaning was donkey |
| mole (native) |
Platypus … to a Pom who isn't any sort of naturalist |
|
| moleskin(s) |
Trousers of moleskin (untwilled cotton fustian fabric) |
Typical sailors' wear on British sailing ships |
| moll |
Girl(friend), disreputable girl, tart, Dona |
|
| mongrel |
Despicable person |
|
| mopoke |
Australian bird ninox novaeseelaniae - in the owl family, but more like a sturdy |
|
| mozzie |
Mosquito |
|
| muddy |
Mud crab (a great delicacy) |
|
| mug |
Friendly insult ("have a go, yer mug"), gullible person |
|
| mug |
One's face |
|
| mull |
Grass (the kind you smoke) |
|
| mull up |
Roll a joint and smoke it |
|
| murphy |
Potato |
|
| naff |
Ridiculous, useless |
|
| nana |
Banana |
|
| nark |
Spoilsport |
|
| narked |
Annoyed |
|
| naughty, have a |
Have sex |
|
| neddies |
Horses |
|
| Never Never |
The Outback, centre of Australia |
|
| new chum |
New arrival or immigrant |
|
| nick |
To steal |
|
| nick out |
Go somewhere for short period of time |
|
| nipper |
Young surf lifesaver |
Also any youngster (generally male) |
| nit |
Fool or idiot |
Also nitwit |
| no hoper |
Hopeless case |
|
| no shortage of oscar |
To be flush with money |
|
| no worries! |
Everything will be fine! |
|
| no-hoper |
Somebody who'll never do well |
|
| nobbler |
Glass or drink of liquor |
|
| noise off |
Speak loudly |
|
| north island |
Mainland Australia, according to someone in Tasmania |
|
| northern summer |
Summer in the Northern Hemisphere |
|
| not the full quid |
Not bright intellectually |
|
| nuddy, in the |
Naked |
|
| nulla-nulla |
Wooden club used by Aborigines |
|
| num-nums |
Tasty food |
|
| ocker |
Uncultivated or boorish Australian |
|
| off-sider |
Assistant or partner |
|
| oil |
Information |
|
| old man |
Large (animal) as in 'old man kangaroo … by tranference (and pidgin use?) = large |
Old Man Plain', in "Across the Western Plains", means 'the big, wide plain'. |
| oldies |
Parents - "I'll have to ask my oldies" |
|
| on a good lurk |
To have a good job |
|
| open slather |
Without restrictions |
|
| OS |
Overseas |
|
| outback |
The bush, or uncivilised uninhabited region |
|
| overlander |
A drover, herding cattle or sheep hundreds of miles over land |
|
| owyergoin |
How are you going? Often used with "g'day" and "Mate" |
|
| oy! |
An ocker's call; hey! |
|
| oyo |
On your own (flat or apartment) |
|
| Oz |
Australia, as in Oz-tralia |
|
| packed out |
Filled to capacity |
|
| packet |
Large some of money, an envelope |
|
| paddock |
Field or meadow |
In Australia, that COULD be 1000 square miles! |
| pademelon, paddymelon |
Small (potorid) wallaby … Aboriginal word (Dharuk - 'badimaliyan') |
Confused with inedible African cucurbit, growing feral in Australia - 'Paddymelon' |
| pally |
On friendly terms with |
|
| paper yabber |
Letter |
|
| parcel |
Package |
|
| pash |
Passion, infatuation |
|
| pastoralist |
Large-scale grazier |
|
| patent pill machine |
Revolver |
Image goes back to loading a cap-and-ball revolver |
| pav |
Pavlova - a rich, creamy Australian dessert |
|
| pavement pizza |
Vomit |
|
| pavlova |
Traditional Australian meringue and cream dessert, named after Russian ballerina |
|
| pearler |
Excellent |
(Purler?) |
| peel |
Shear (a sheep) |
"Peel the wooly overcoats of those monkeys!) |
| peeler |
policeman |
(Anglo-Irish, from Sir Rober Peel) |
| pen |
Shearing position or job (= 'stand') |
|
| perve (noun & verb) |
Looking lustfully at the opposite sex |
|
| pester |
Annoy or bother someone |
(Standard English?) |
| petrol |
Gasoline |
|
| piccaninny |
Native child |
(International colonial) W. Indian creole from Spanish 'pequeno' |
| piece of piss |
Easy task |
|
| piffle |
Nonsense |
|
| pig's arse! |
I don't agree with you |
|
| piker |
Someone who doesn't want to fit in with others socially, leaves parties early |
|
| pinch |
To arrest |
|
| pineapple, rough end of |
Stick, sharp end of; misfortune |
|
| pink (verb) |
Shear closely (so close that the pink skin shows through the wool) |
|
| pinkie |
Wine - local - young (bit short of the Beaujolais mystique) |
Term occurrs in song 'Ard tac', inter alia |
| pint pot |
Tin-plated cooking/storage/container - specially made, not improvised like a billy |
Sometimes fits snugly inside the quart pot - horsemen's model is oval to pack better in saddlebag |
| piss |
Alcohol, usually beer |
|
| piss turn, piss up |
Boozy party |
|
| piss weak |
No good, gutless |
|
| pissed |
Drunk |
|
| pissed off |
Annoyed |
|
| pivot on |
Consider |
|
| plant the foot (to the floorboards) |
Drive fast |
|
| plonk |
Cheap wine (contemptuous contraction of "vin blanc") |
|
| plurry |
(alledged) pidgin for "bloody" |
The Oxford blames this one on the New Zealanders and Maoris? |
| poddy dodger |
Cattle rustler |
Strictly, someone pinching unbranded calves from careless neighbours |
| poker machine, pokies |
Slot machine or fruit machine but with playing card pips |
|
| polly |
Politician |
|
| pom, pommy |
English person |
Imperfect rhyming slang = pomegranate - 'immy-granate' |
| pommy bastard |
An Englishman |
|
| poofter |
Homosexual |
|
| port |
Suitcase (portmanteau) |
Not a Sydney term - common everywhere else |
| possie |
Position |
|
| postie |
Postman, mailman |
|
| pot |
285 ml glass of beer (Victoria and Queensland) |
And the Sydney Journalist's Club |
| pozzy |
Position - get a good pozzy at the football stadium |
|
| prad |
A horse |
(From Dutch 'paard') |
| prang |
Accident or crash |
|
| prezzy |
Present, gift |
|
| prog |
Food |
Old Englis, ex Norse |
| pub |
Any hotel |
|
| puddle |
Wash soil in tubs or troughs for gold ('often preparatory to cradling') |
|
| push |
Group or gang of people, such as shearers |
|
| putt-putt |
Any small vehicle |
|
| QANTAS |
Acronym for Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Service |
|
| quack |
Doctor, especially if not very good |
|
| quart pot |
Tin-plated cooking/storage/container - specially made, not improvised like a billy |
|
| quick smart |
In a hurry |
|
| quid, make a |
Earn a living - "are you making a quid?" |
|
| quid, not the full |
Of low IQ |
|
| quids |
A lot of money |
|
| rabbiter |
Person trapping, poisoning or shooting rabbits for pay, bounty or skins |
|
| rage |
Party |
|
| rainbow sneeze |
Vomit |
|
| rapt |
Delighted, enraptured |
|
| ratbag |
Someone who does not behave properly |
|
| raw prawn, to come the |
To bullshit, to be generally disagreeable |
|
| razoo |
Fictitious coin, as "I haven't a brass razoo" |
|
| reckon! |
You bet! Absolutely! |
|
| red poppy |
The one at the top whom Aussies like to give a hard time |
Tall poppy (syndrome)? |
| rego |
Registration, as in car rego |
|
| rellie |
Family relative |
|
| remittance man |
(Generally) Englishman whose family are prepared to pay him to not to come home |
|
| rhino |
Money (real money, not the cockies' 'shinplasters'!) |
|
| ridgy-didge |
Original, genuine |
|
| right |
Okay ("she'll be right, mate") |
|
| ring-in |
Impostor, unauthorised |
|
| ringer |
Fastest sheep shearer |
|
| ringer (Queensland) |
Stockman, cattle drover (required to "ring, mill & circle cattle") |
|
| ripper |
Great, fantastic |
|
| road train |
Big truck with many trailers |
|
| roly-poly |
Australian tumbleweed |
(roley-poley, rolly-polly) |
| roo |
Kangaroo |
|
| roo bar |
Metal frame on front of vehicles to protect against kangaroo strikes |
|
| root |
Have sexual intercourse |
|
| rooted |
Tired |
|
| ropable |
Very ill-tempered or angry |
|
| rotten |
Drunk ("I went out last night and got rotten") |
|
| rouseabout, rousie |
General stationhand / non-shearing shed-hand |
|
| RS |
Lousy (rat shit) |
|
| rubbish |
To criticize or tease |
|
| rug up |
Dress for warmth |
|
| rum cull |
Rich fool, an easy mark |
17/18th c. London street slang |
| run |
A station - a large country agricultural property |
|
| ryebuck |
Genuine, fair dinkum |
|
| sack |
To dismiss from a job |
|
| sack |
Bed: "Hit the sack" = go to bed |
Also (usually a sleeping bag) "fart sack" |
| safe |
Storage box/cupboard for food |
See also Coolgardie safe |
| salute, aussie |
Brushing flies away |
|
| salvo |
Member of the Salvation Army |
|
| sandgroper |
Resident of Western Australia; sand-burrowing desert insect |
|
| sanger |
A sandwich |
|
| Sawbees |
Brand of hand-shears used for shearing sheep |
Spelling? |
| scallops |
Fried potato cakes (Queensland and New South Wales), shellfish (elsewhere) |
The shellfish often distinguished as "Tasmanian" scallops" … except in Tasmania or Victoria |
| scheme |
System or method (no negative connotation) |
Or project … I worked on the Snowy Mts Scheme in the '60s |
| school |
Group of drinkers, each of whom buys a round |
|
| schooner |
Large beer glass (New South Wales, South Australia) |
|
| scratchy |
Instant lottery ticket |
|
| screamer |
Party lover; "two pot screamer" - somebody who gets drunk on very little alcohol |
|
| scrub |
Can be the same as the bush or it can mean areas in the country without many tall trees |
|
| sea wasp |
Deadly box jellyfish |
|
| sealed road |
Surfaced road |
|
| see you in the soup |
See you around |
|
| selector |
Farmer who was able to freely choose a small parcel of Government land |
|
| semitrailer |
Articulated truck |
|
| septic |
Disparaging term for an American ("septic tank" rhymes with "Yank") |
|
| servo |
Petrol station |
|
| session |
Lengthy period of heavy drinking |
|
| SFA |
Sweet Fuck All, precious little |
Actually started as Sweet Fanny Adams: Frances Adams, murdered and chopped up, c. 1870 (RN term for canned meat!) |
| shark biscuit |
Somebody new to surfing |
|
| she'll be right! |
Everything will be fine! |
|
| she-oak |
Tree (wood of which) vaguely resembling a European oak, the 'she' meaning inferi |
Dead right - but don't try to explain that to a feminist ... |
| shed |
Shearing shed - major structure on large wool property |
Rung the shed', means shearing top tally for that property, that season |
| sheila |
Female or woman |
|
| shellacking |
Complete defeat |
|
| shinplasters |
Cheque for wages (surreptiously baked to make paper brittle) . |
Workers often wrapped them around their ankles, under their socks, to keep them moist and intact |
| shirty |
To get upset or angry |
|
| shivoo |
Rowdy party (archaic) |
|
| shonky |
Unreliable |
|
| shoot through |
To leave or disappear in a hurry |
|
| shout |
Turn to buy - a round of drinks usually ("it's your shout") |
|
| shove off! |
Go away! |
|
| sickie |
Day off work ill, or malingering |
|
| silk shirt on a pig |
Something wasted |
|
| silvertail |
Well off, usually English, settler (European silvertail pigeon, contrasted with |
|
| sink the boot |
Go in hard |
|
| skint |
Broke |
|
| skite |
Boast, brag |
|
| sky pilot |
Minister, bush missionary (early 20th c.) |
|
| slab |
24 cans (tinnies) of beer, shrink-wrapped as a unit |
|
| sleepout |
House verandah converted to a bedroom |
|
| slog |
Hard work |
|
| smoko |
Smoke or tea break |
|
| snag |
Sausage |
|
| snagger |
Inexpert, slow or worn out shearer |
|
| sook |
Person or animal who is soft, tame, inoffensive |
|
| spag bol |
Spaghetti bolognese |
|
| sparrow-fart |
Dawn, first light |
|
| spider (19th c.) |
Brandy mixed with lemonade |
|
| spider (20th c.) |
Aerated soft drink plus ice cream (~ US 'soda'?) |
NOT Sydney - lime soft drink + ice cream = 'Ice cream, lime & soda', no other spiders served |
| spieler |
Carnival spruiker - con artist - swindler |
(Originally a US term) |
| spit the dummy |
Get very upset at something |
|
| sport |
More general way to refer to someone rather than a mate |
|
| sprung |
Caught doing something wrong |
|
| spunk |
A good looking person (of either sex) |
|
| square |
Honest, respectable |
|
| square face |
Gin (comes in square bottles) |
|
| square off |
Apologise and make reparations |
|
| square up |
Prepare to fight (as in boxing) |
|
| squatter |
Large landowner who originally occupied land as a tenant of the government |
|
| squattocracy |
Australian "old money" folk, who made their fortunes by being first on the scene |
|
| stand |
Shearing position, shearing job |
|
| station |
A big farm/grazing property |
|
| sticky beak |
Nosy person |
|
| stinger |
Deadly box jellyfish |
|
| stockman |
Station hand (rural worker) herding cattle |
|
| stockwhip |
Plaited leather lash on a (usually) cane handle used by stockmen and drovers |
Plaiting and whipcraft are important Australian bush skills |
| stood |
Shouted, paid for as a gift |
|
| strewth! |
It's the truth! An exclamation, often of surprise |
|
| strides |
Daks, trousers |
|
| strike a light! |
An exclamation, of surprise or as an intensifive |
|
| strine |
Australian slang and pronunciation |
(Or-strine = Australian … badly nasalised!) |
| stringybark |
Shaggy-barked eucalypt, its timber (proverbially tough) or its bark used as roof |
|
| stubby |
375 ml bottle of beer |
|
| stubby holder |
Polystyrene insulated holder for a stubby |
|
| stuff |
Money, the payment for a job |
(Capt. Of the Push / Cockies of Bungaree) |
| stuffed, I feel |
I'm tired |
|
| stuffed, I'll be |
Expression of surprise |
|
| sunbake |
Sunbathe |
|
| sunnies |
Sunglasses |
|
| surfies |
People who go surfing - usually more often than they go to work! |
|
| surfy |
Surfing fanatic |
|
| swag |
Canvas-covered bedroll used in the outback or for camping (modern usage) |
Traditionally, a swagman's belongings wrapped in a blanket and carried over or around the shoulders |
| swaggie |
Swagman |
Confuses non-Australians, since swag means 'loot from a crime' … so, it was a convict colony … ? (It also means something rolled up.) |
| swagman |
Vagabond, rural tramp |
|
| swimmers |
Swimming costume (Queensland, Victoria) |
|
| t'other side |
The northern island (mainland Australia) to a Tasmanian |
Of course, they're 'down under down under …" |
| tack (hard) |
Work (hard) |
Trans. From sailor's 'hard tack' - tough, hard biscuit? |
| take away food |
Take-out food |
|
| tall poppies |
Achievers, often a disparaging term |
Tall poppy (syndrome)? |
| tally |
The number of shorn sheep attributed to individual shearers in a day |
Transf. - a good result |
| tank |
Dam or reservoir, as well as constructed water storage container |
|
| tar |
Stockholm tar, applied as first aid to sheep cut during shearing |
|
| tar boy |
Shearing shed hand patching up cut sheep |
|
| tariff |
Rate |
|
| tart |
Once a contraction of 'sweetheart', now more derogatory |
|
| Taswegian |
A person from Tasmania |
|
| tea |
Evening meal |
|
| technicolour yawn |
Vomit |
|
| tee up |
Organise or arrange |
|
| telly |
The television |
|
| thingo |
Thing, whatchamacallit, whomajigger, hooza meebob, doo velacki, thingamajig, wha |
|
| this arvo |
This afternoon |
|
| thongs |
Rubber sandals, flip-flops |
|
| ticker |
Watch |
|
| tickets, to have on oneself |
To have a high opinion of oneself |
|
| tiger cat |
Carnivorous marsupial, about domestic cat size |
Related to extinct Tasmamian Tiger |
| tinny |
Can of beer, small aluminium boat |
|
| toad-skin |
£1 banknote, from its green colour |
Australian banknotes are each of different colours (and sizes) |
| togs |
Swimming costume (Queensland, Victoria) |
|
| tongs |
(Old-fashioned) Hand shears |
Suggested by spring hinge (B-bow)? |
| too right! |
Absolutely! |
|
| top end |
Far north of Australia |
|
| top ender |
Resident of the Northern Territory |
|
| trap |
Policeman, (later) mounted trooper |
|
| triangle |
Flogging frame |
In convict settlements, 1788 - (~) 1860 |
| trooper |
Policeman (usually) on horseback |
|
| trots |
Runny stools, the shits |
|
| truckie |
Truck driver |
|
| true blue |
Dinkum, patriotic |
|
| tucker |
Food |
|
| tucker-bag |
Food bag |
|
| turps |
Turpentine or alcoholic drink |
So-called 'Methylated Spirits' no longer is denatured with methyl alcohol, which is merely poisonous ... now uses turpentine, which is sickening |
| turps, hit the |
Go on a drinking binge |
|
| twit |
Fool or idiot |
|
| two-pot screamer |
Someone who can't hold his liquor |
|
| two-up |
Traditional Australian heads/tails gambling game, played with 2 coins |
|
| tyre |
Australian and British spelling of "tire" |
|
| underdaks |
Underwear |
|
| uni |
University |
|
| unit |
Flat, apartment |
|
| up a gumtree |
In a quandary |
|
| up north |
New South Wales and Queensland, according to someone in Victoria |
|
| up oneself |
Have a high opinion of oneself - "he's really up himself" |
|
| up the duff |
Pregnant |
|
| ute |
Utility truck or vehicle |
Australian 'invention' - Ford Australia (1928?) |
| vedgies |
Vegetables |
|
| vee dub |
Volkswagen |
|
| veg out |
Relax in front of the TV (like a vegetable) |
|
| Vegemite |
Popular vegetable extract used as sandwich spread |
Yeast extract - made from the 'lees' of beer-making! |
| vejjo |
Vegetarian |
|
| velvet |
Highly profitable or advantageous |
|
| waddy |
Wooden club (waddi, waddie, wody, woodah &c) |
Aboriginal word (Dharuk): wadi = tree, stick of wood |
| waffle |
Nonsense |
|
| wag |
To skip school or work |
|
| waggin' school |
Playing truant |
|
| waler |
Bloke from New South Wales (also NSW breed of tough bush horse) |
Not 'whaler' |
| walkabout |
Lengthy walk away from it all |
|
| walkabout, it's gone |
It's lost, can't be found |
|
| wallaby track, on the |
To wander from place to place in search of work (archaic) |
|
| walloper |
Copper, policeman |
|
| waltz matilda |
To carry a swag |
Auf den walz (mit Mathilde) Mathilde is blanket roll or tool roll in German |
| wattle |
Acacia, common Australian species of (typically) shrub |
The original wattle - so named because it was used to build wattle & daub dwellings in Sydney's first settlement, was not acacia, but callicoma serratifolia, which had yellow globular flowers and serrated leaves. Early settlers were no botanists and they thought similar acacias were same genus … |
| weatherboard |
Wooden house |
Strictly: a specific pattern of lapped horizontal wooden cladding |
| West Island |
Australia, to a New Zealander |
|
| Wet, the |
Rainy season in northern Australia |
|
| wether |
Castrated male sheep |
|
| whack |
Fair share, agreed deal |
Turns up in a few songs - old English word |
| wharfie |
Dockworker |
(Stevedore) |
| whinge |
Complain and carry on unnecessarily |
|
| whips (of) |
Lots (of) |
|
| white ant (noun) |
Termite |
|
| white ant (verb) |
Undermine or sabotage |
|
| white pointers |
Topless (female) sunbathers or type of large shark |
|
| whomajigger |
Term for person or thing whose actual name one can't remember |
|
| willy-nilly |
Small dust twister or erratic |
More commonly "willy willy" - a couple of citiatons of williy nilly in Aus. Nat'l Dict. Aboriginal words (Yinji-Barndi) - 'wili wili' |
| Wimmera |
West Victorian region (characterised by wimmera rye grass) |
|
| wobbly |
Disturbing, unpredictable behaviour, as in "throw a wobbly" |
|
| wog |
Flu or trivial illness |
|
| wog |
Mediterranean or Middle European migrant - derogatory |
|
| Wolseleys |
Machine shears (inventor, Fred Wolseley, went on to make cars … in England) |
(Assisted by his shears mechanic … Herbert Austin … who then made his own cars!) |
| wombat |
Somebody who eats, roots and leaves (see also root) |
|
| woomera |
Stick used by Aborigines to throw spears |
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| woop woop |
Invented name for any small unimportant town - "he lives in Woop Woop" |
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| wowser |
Straight-laced person, prude, puritan, spoilsport |
|
| XXXX |
Pronounced Four X, brand of beer made in Queensland |
And there's no truth to the story that Queenslanders just can't spell BEER |
| yabber |
Talk (a lot) |
Probably Aboriginal … and/or pidgin from jabber |
| yabby |
Small freshwater crayfish |
|
| yahoo |
Noisy and unruly person |
|
| yahooing |
Boisterous behaviour |
|
| yakka, yakker |
Hard work, an Aboriginal term |
(Yagari language -'yaga') |
| yank |
American regardless of location |
|
| yank tank |
An American car |
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| yankee shout |
A round of drinks in which everyone pays his own |
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| yeo |
Ewe, female sheep |
Scots dialect … also ewie or yowie (not the aboriginal forest monster!) |
| yewy |
U-turn in traffic ("chuck a yewy at the next traffic lights") |
I've always spelled it: U-ey … but I'm a bit of a pedant! |
| yobbo |
Uncouth, aggressive person |
Old Cockney 'backspell' slang: yob = boy |
| yonks |
Ages, a long time |
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| youse |
Plural of you (by the grammatically challenged) |
|
| zarucker |
Police trooper |
(Appears in Manifold's "The Death of Ned Kelly"_ |
| zebra crossing |
Broad-striped pedestrian roadway crossing |
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| zed |
Australian and British pronunciation of "Z" |
|
| zeds |
Pertaining to sleep (zzz) |
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| zonked |
Exhausted, rooted |
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