| Aussie Words |
Definitions |
Comments |
| dag |
A funny person, nerd, goof |
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| dag, daggy |
Dirty lump of wool at the back end of a sheep, also an affectionate or mildly ab |
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| daks |
Trousers |
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| damper |
Bush loaf made from flour and water cooked in a camp oven |
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| Darling pea |
Staggers (usually the stock) from eating poisonous plant |
Appears in 'All For My Grog' |
| dead horse |
Tomato sauce |
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| deadset |
True, the truth |
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| deli |
Delicatessen |
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| demon |
Policeman, detective |
Originally a Tasmanian (Vandemonian) ex-convict recruited into the colonial police force |
| dero |
Tramp, hobo, homeless person (from "derelict") |
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| 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 |
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| dillybag |
Small bag to carry things |
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| dingo |
Australian native dog, (tranf.) an untrustworthy person or coward |
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| dinkum, fair dinkum |
Genuine or honest |
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| dinky-di |
The real thing, genuine |
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| dipstick |
A loser, idiot |
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| divvy van |
Police divisional van |
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| do your nana |
Lose your rag, spit the dummy, lose your temper |
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| dob (somebody) in |
Inform on somebody |
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| docket |
A bill, receipt |
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| doco |
Documentary |
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| dog |
Unattractive woman |
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| dole bludger |
Somebody on social assistance when unjustified |
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| don't come the raw prawn |
Don't try to fool me |
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| donah |
A girl, to a city larrikin, c. 1900 |
(from Portugese 'dona' ?) |
| donger |
Penis |
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| donk |
Car or boat engine |
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| doodle |
Penis |
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| doozey |
Something very pleasant |
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| doughboy |
Flour dumpling |
British dialect / navy slang |
| down south |
The rest of Australia, according to someone north of Brisbane, Queensland |
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| Down Under |
Australia and New Zealand |
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| drink with the flies |
To drink alone |
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| drinking down the cheque |
Drinking alcohol ontil all the wages have been squandered |
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| drive the porcelain bus |
Vomit |
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| 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 |
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| drum |
Information, tip-off ("I'll give you the drum") |
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| drum (hump the) |
(Carry a) swag |
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| Dry, the |
Dry season in the north, April to November |
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| duco |
Car paint |
Brand name |
| duffer, cattle |
Rustler |
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| dukies (and duchesses) |
Pickpockets |
Earn their living with their 'dooks' |
| dummy, spit the |
Get very upset at something |
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| dungarees |
Workingman's clothes/overalls |
Named for a coarse Indian calico (Hindi 'dungri') … a social indicator in colonial days |
| dunny |
Outdoor lavatory |
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| dunny budgies |
Blow flies |
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| dunny rat, cunning as a |
Very cunning |
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| durry |
Cigarette |
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| earbash |
Non-stop talk |
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| eastern states |
The rest of Australia, according to someone in Western Australia |
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| Enzedder |
New zealander |
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| esky |
Large insulated box for keeping beer cool |
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| evo |
Evening |
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| ewe |
Female sheep, corruption is 'yoe' or similar |
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| exy |
Expensive |
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| fair crack of the whip! |
Fair go! |
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| fair dinkum |
Genuine or honest |
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| fair go |
A chance ("give a bloke a fair go") |
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| fairy floss |
Candy floss, cotton candy |
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| FIGJAM |
F*ck I'm good; just ask me |
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| financial |
To be flush with cash |
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| FJ |
Most revered Holden car |
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| flake |
Shark meat, used in fish and chips |
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| 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 |
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| floater |
Meat pie floating in pea soup, viewed by Australians either as a great delicacy or as a great emetic |
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| 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 |
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| fossick |
To hunt for gemstones |
Or gold … or any other mineral ... |
| fossicking |
Searching, rummaging ("fossicking through the kitchen drawers") |
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| freckle |
Anus |
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| from arsehole to breakfast |
All over the place |
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| fruit loop |
Fool |
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| full |
Drunk |
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| furphy |
A rumour or a false story |
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| g'day |
A greeting |
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| 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 |
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| game |
Brave |
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| gander |
Have a look |
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| gaol |
Australian and British variant spelling of "jail" |
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| garbo |
Garbage collector |
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| garbo, garbologist |
Municipal garbage collector |
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| 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 |
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| give it away |
Give up |
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| goanna |
Australian monitor lizard |
Adaptation of S. American 'iguana' |
| going "troppo" |
Going tropical; laid-back and fun-loving; insane |
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| good oil, good gits |
Useful information, a good idea, the truth |
Good guts? |
| good on ya! |
Well done! |
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| good on you |
Good for you, well done |
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| good possie |
Advantageous position |
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| grazier |
Large-scale sheep or cattle farmer |
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| greenhide |
Tough, untanned leather |
Equivalent to US "rawhide" |
| greenie |
Environmentalist |
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