REVERSE DICTIONARY
A
AU - AV
AUBURN - adjectives
• ABRAHAM † auburn; formerly written 'abern' and 'abron'; a corruption of 'auburn' ...1599
• ABRAHAM-COLOURED auburn ...1592 sl.
• ABRAM auburn ...1599 sl.
AUCTION - nouns
• CALAMITY old stuff, such as is bought at an auction ...Bk1913-17 Amer. dial.
• CANTING sale by auction ...1651 N. Eng. dial.
• KNOCK-EM-DOWN-BUSINESS auctioneering ...Aust.
• LYTH-COOP † an auction of household goods ...1681
• OUTCRY an auction ...1712
• SALE an auction ...1774 Amer. dial.
• SALE BILL a broadsheet advertising an auction ...1982 Amer. dial.
• SALE CRYING conducting an auction ...1944 Amer. dial.
• SUBHASTATION † a public sale by auction ...1600 obs. exc. hist.
• UNCTION an auction ...1896 Sc.
• VANDOO an auction ...1861 Amer. dial.
• VANDUE an auction ...1680 Amer. dial.
• VENDOO an auction ...1929 Amer. dial.
• VENDUE a public sale; an auction ...1686
auction - person
• ANGEL a greenhorn buyer at an auction who can be depended to buy unsound horses ...1964 Amer. sl.
• BABES the lowest order of ‘knock-outs,’ who are prevailed upon not to give opposing biddings at auctions, in consideration of their receiving a small sum (from one shilling to half-a-crown) and a certain quantity of beer ...Bk1860 sl.
• BACK-ROUPER the person who bids at a public sale merely to bring up the price ...1866 Sc.
• BARKER one who 'barks' at a cheap shop or show to entice people inside; an auction-room or shop tout ...1699
• BLACK-CAP a person who bids at an auction merely to raise the price ...Bk1898 Eng. dial.
• BONNET a person who bids for his own goods at a sale - one who is employed by the owner to bid for him ...Bk1911 Sc.
• BUTTON a sham buyer at an auction employed to bid and raise the price of articles ...1851 sl.
• BUTTONER * a person who bids at an auction in order to raise the price or to encourage others to bid; a dummy bidder ...1910 criminals' sl.
• BYBIDDER a person at an auction who bids with the object of raising the prices ...1848
• CAALER an auctioneer ...Bk1892 Eng. dial.
• CAPPER a dummy bidder whose function is either to start the bidding, or to run up the price of articles for sale ...1853 sl.
• CHAUNTER a hired bidder at a sale ...Bk1890 sl.
• CLERK OF THE ROUP one who notes the bids and buyers at an auction; an auctioneer's clerk ...1869 Sc.
• COLONEL an auctioneer ...Bk1913-17 Amer. dial.
• FUNK † a perpetrator of any of various ruses to raise prices or otherwise cheat buyers at an auction ...1842
• HAND-SELLER † an itinerant auctioneer who sells by 'Dutch auction' ...1851 Brit.
• HIGH BIDDER the person who holds the highest bid at any time during an auction; one who wins an auction with the highest final bid ...1695
• JAW-COVE an auctioneer ...1859 Amer. thieves' sl.
• MOCK AUCTIONEER the auctioneer at a mock auction (a fraudulent auction of worthless goods at which genuine bidding is encouraged either by pretend bids made by associates of the auctioneer, or by the offer of free gifts or other incentives) ...1780
• ODD-TRICK MAN a hanger-on at auctions ...19C sl.
• PUFF a mock bidder at auctions ...1785 sl.
• SALE-CALLER an auctioneer ...1944 Amer. dial.
• SALE-CRIER an auctioneer ...1881 Eng. dial.
• UNCTION BODY an auctioneer ...1933 Sc.
• UNCTIONEER an auctioneer ...1871 Sc.
• UNCTIONER † an auctioneer ...1830 Sc.
• VENDUE CRIER an auctioneer ...1778
• VENDUE-MASTER an auctioneer ...1710
• WANTER a person who goes to an auction intending to buy ...Bk1887 Eng. dial.
• WHITE BONNET † a fictitious bidder at an auction ...1760 Sc.
auction - verbs
• BACK-ROUP to bid at a public sale merely to raise the price ...1866 Sc.
• BRING TO THE HAMMER to sell by auction ...1828
• CAD to bid at a public auction ...Bk1898 Eng. dial.
• CALL A SALE to preside at an auction ...1944 Amer. dial.
• CANT to dispose of by auction ...1720 chiefly Irish
• CRY to offer for sale by auction or by hawking in the streets ...1393
• CRY OUT † to sell out by auction ...1701
• GO UNDER THE HAMMER to be sold by auction ...1828
• JOLLY to make a sham bid at an auction ...M19 sl.
• KNOCK DOWN to sell something to a bidder at an auction ...1760
• PUFF to bid on an item at an auction solely to increase the price that the final bidder must pay
AUDACIOUS - adjectives
• BARDACIOUS audacious, unceremonious ...1908 Amer. dial.
• BARDY forward, pert, shameless, audacious; insolent; defiant ...1822 Sc.
• BARE audacious; also, mean, base ...Bk1898 Eng. dial.
• BODACIOUS audacious, unceremonious ...1908 Amer. dial.
• BOLD AS BRASS, AS audacious ...1789
• CRUSTY audacious, nervy ...c1900 Amer. sl.
• DARING-HARDY † foolhardy, presumptuous, audacious ...1593
• DERF † in a bad sense: bold, audacious, daringly wicked ...a1400
• FACING † bold, audacious ...1566
• FLY wild, audacious, impertinent; brash ...1884 US sl.
• NERVY daring, audacious, pushing one's luck ...L19, orig. US
• OUDACIOUS audacious, bold ...1891 Amer. dial.
• OUTDACIOUS impudent, shameless, audacious, bold, incorrigible; of things: very bad, shocking ...1885 Eng. & Amer. dial.
• OWDACIOUS impudent, shameless, audacious, bold, incorrigible; of things: very bad, shocking ...1847 Eng. & Amer. dial.
audacious - person
• BELLOMY † a blustering or audacious man ...1535 Sc.
• HELLION a desperate, audacious person ...Bk1905 Eng. dial.
audacious - verbs
• TAKE THE CAKE to be so unusual as to be unbelievable; to be extremely audacious; to have unusual behaviour or characteristics ...c1890 US colloq.
AUDACITY - nouns
• BALLS effrontery; audacity ...1964 US sl.
• BRASH audacity, boldness, forwardness ...1966 Amer. dial.
• BRASS audacity, effrontery; courage; nerve; impudence ...1682
• BRASS NECK audacity, effrontery; courage; nerve; impudence ...1984 sl.
• CHEEK impudent talk; audacity; effrontery ...1840 sl.
• CHUTZBAH, CHUTZPA, CHUTZPAH impudence; audacity, effrontery ...1853 Yiddish
• CRUST gall, audacity, nerve ...c1900 Amer. sl.
• DAREDNESS boldness, audacity ...1874 Eng. dial.
• FACE audacity, impudence ...17C US sl.
• FACIAL AREA audacity, impudence ...17C US sl.
• GUTS cheek, audacity, nerve ...1910s sl.
• HARDIHEAD boldness, hardiness; audacity ...1579 arch.
• NECK audacity, effrontery ...1893 sl.
• NERVE audacity, effrontery, impudence, cheek ...1887
• ONCE A WEEK cheek, impudence, audacity ...20C rhyming sl.
• RABBIT audacity, cheek ...1940s sl.
• RIND audacity, effrontery ...1903 sl.
AUDIENCE - nouns
• SHOWCASE an audience many of whom were admitted on free tickets ...Bk1974 Amer. theatre use
audience - person
• JOE PUBLIC a member of an audience; an average member of the public
audience - verbs
• PAPER to boost an audience by giving out free passes to a show or entertainment ...L19 sl.
audience - phrases
• ONLY TWO MEN AND A DOG a description of a poor audience ...Bk1999 Aust. sl.
AUDIT - nouns
• APPOSAL † a searching question; inquiry, investigation, esp. legal examination of accounts ...LME
audit - verbs
• APPOSE † to examine accounts; to audit ...E17
• OPPOSE † to examine and check accounts; to audit ...c1483
AUDITION - nouns
• CATTLE CALL in theatre and film: a casting call; also, a mass audition ...1952 US sl.
AUDITOR - person
• OPPOSER † one who checks accounts, an auditor ...a1483
• RATIONAL †* in Roman Antiquity: an accountant or auditor ...1610
AUDITORIUM - nouns
• NOSEBLEEDS the highest seats in an auditorium or a stadium ...1978 US sl.
AUGMENT - verbs
• ADAUGE †* to add to, to augment, to increase by addition ...1657
• AMPLIFICATE † to amplify, to augment, to enlarge, to extend; to dwell long on a subject ...1731
• ECHE † to enlarge, to augment, to increase ...a1000
• YCHE † to augment, to increase ...1398
AUGUR - verbs
• HALSE † to augur; to divine; to soothsay ...c1050
• HALSEN † to augur, to foreshow by auspices, to prognosticate ...1586
• OMINATE † to prognosticate from omens; to augur, to forebode ...1582
AUGURY - nouns
• HANDSEL † lucky prognostic, omen, presage, augury; a token or omen of good luck ...c1200
• HANSEL † lucky prognostic, omen, presage, augury; a token or omen of good luck ...c1200
AUGUST - adjectives
• AUGUSTIOUS †* grand, magnificent, majestic, august ...a1670
AUNT, GREAT-AUNT - person
• AULD-AUNTIE - the aunt of one's father or mother ...Bk1898 Sc.
• AUNT EMMA - used as a personification of a matronly aunt ...1947 US sl.
• AUNT-IN-LAW the wife or female partner of one's uncle ...a1556
• BEE-BEE - an aunt ...Bk1890 gypsy usage
• FATHER-SISTER - † an aunt on the father's side ...1808 Sc.
• GARDEN - an aunt ...1992 UK rhyming sl. (Garden Plant)
• GARDEN PLANT - an aunt ...1992 UK rhyming sl.
• MOME - † an aunt; also, a title of or affectionate form of address to an old woman ...a1325
• MOTHER-SISTER - † a maternal aunt ...a1000
• MRS. CHANT - an aunt ...1930s rhyming sl.
• NAINT - an aunt ...Bk1879 Eng. dial.
• NANA - a grandmother - rarely, an aunt - also, used as a term of address ...1844
• NANNIE, NANNY a grandmother; rarely, a mother or aunt; also, a term of address ...1941 Amer. dial.
• NAUNT † aunt ...1621 obs. exc. Eng. dial. or arch.
• OLD AUNTIE - a great-aunt ...Bk1905 Sc.
• TANNIE - an aunt ...1958 S. Afr. colloq.
• TANTE - an aunt ...Bk1982 Jewish
• TUTU - an aunt ...1967 Hawaii
• UN - aunt; an address of familiar respect to an old woman, not implying relationship ...Bk1880 Eng. dial.
AURORA BOREALIS - nouns
• DANCERS the aurora borealis or northern lights ...c1717
• DERWENTER LIGHTS the Aurora Borealis ...1879 Eng. dial.
• FIRE-FLAUGHT the Northern Lights; Aurora Borealis ...1787
• MERRY-DANCE the Aurora Borealis ...1827 Sc.
• MERRY DANCERS the Aurora Borealis, the Northern Lights ... 1693 Sc. & Eng. dial.
• NIGHT RAINBOW the Northern Lights ...1954 Amer. dial.
• STREAMERS the Aurora Borealis, northern lights ...1805 sl.
AUSPICIOUS - adjectives
• OMINOUS † of good omen, auspicious; fortunate ...1597
• WHITE * propitious, favourable; auspicious, fortunate, happy ...1614 arch.
AUSTERE - adjectives
• AUSTERN austere ...Bk1898 Sc.
• EARTHLY rough, austere ...Bk1900 Eng. dial.
• GARGRUGOUS † austere both in aspect and in manners, at the same time inspiring something approaching to terror, from the size of the person ...1825 Sc.
• RAMSTOUGAR † austere ...Bk1905 Sc.
• RAMSTOUGEROUS † austere ...Bk1905 Sc.
• RAMSTUGIOUS † austere ...Bk1905 Sc.
• TETRICOUS † sour in countenance; austere, severe, harsh, crabbed, perverse, morose ...1727
austere - person
• GRIMSIR † an austere, stern, morose, or overbearing person; a grim old man; a haughty or arrogant person in office ...c1450 obs. exc. Eng. dial.
AUSTERITY - nouns
• RIGOROSITY † austerity, rigour, extreme strictness ...c1531
AUSTRALIA - adjectives
• ABO Australian Aborginal; pert. to Australian Aboriginals ...1911 Aust. sl.
• AUSSIE Australian ...1917 sl.
• AUSTRAL pert. to Australia ...1823
• AUSTRALIAN AS A MEAT PIE typically or authentically Australian ...1981 Aust. sl.
• CREAMY quarter-caste Australian Aboriginal ...1912 Aust. sl.
• OCKER 1. characteristic of an ocker ...1972 Aust. sl.
2. distinctively Australian ...1972 Aust. sl.
• OZ Australian ...1971 sl., orig. Aust.
• OZZIE Australian ...1918 sl., orig. Aust.
• VANDEMONIAN belonging to or inhabiting Tasmania ...1840
Australia - nouns
• ABORTION EXPRESS a train that ran from Darwin to Birdum ...1940 Aust. sl.
• ACROSS THE DITCH Australia ...1998 NZ sl.
• AERIAL PING-PONG a jocular (frequently derisive) name for Australian National Football ...1964 Aust.
• ALBANY DOCTOR a refreshing cool breeze in southern Western Australia ...Bk1999 Aust. sl.
• ALICE Alice Springs; in early use, was preceded by 'the' ...1901 Aust. sl.
• ALLIGATORLAND Queensland ...L19 Aust. sl.
• APPLE ISLAND, THE Tasmania ...1906 Aust. colloq.
• APPLE ISLE, THE Tasmania ...1906 Aust. colloq.
• AUSSIE 1. Australia ...1915 Aust. sl.
2. Australian English ...1945 Aust. sl.
• AUSSIELAND Australia ...1920 Aust.
• AUSTRALIAN Australian English ...1902 Aust.
• BACK BLOCK the country outside the margin of the settled districts ...Bk1892 Aust. sl.
• BANANALAND Queensland ...1898 Aust. colloq.
• BANGTAIL MUSTER a roundup of cattle to be counted, each one having the hairs on its tail docked as it is counted ...Aust. hist.
• BARCOO BUSTER a westerly wind in outback Queensland ...Bk1999 Aust. sl.
• BARCOO SALUTE a gesture with which one brushes flies from one's face, considered to be typical of Australians ...1973 Aust. sl.
• BAZZALAND Australia ...Bk1999 Aust. sl.
• BIG A Australia ...1987 US sl.
• BLUEY a bushman's bundle, the outside wrapper of which is generally a blue blanket ...1891 Aust. sl.
• BRISSO an abbreviation of Brisbane ...Aust. sl.
• BUNYIP ARISTOCRACY Australia's 'landed gentry' ...Bk1999 Aust. sl.
• CABBAGE GARDEN the state of Victoria, Australia ...1882 Aust. sl.
• CABBAGE GARDEN PATCH the state of Victoria, Australia ...20C Aust. sl.
• CABBAGE-PATCH the state of Victoria, Australia ...1882 Aust. sl.
• CABBAGE STATE the state of Victoria, Australia ...1882 Aust. sl.
• CAMP, THE 1. Sydney ...L18 Aust.
2. Hobart ...M19 Aust.
• COATHANGER the Sydney Harbour Bridge ...1943 Aust. sl.
• DANDIES, THE the Dandenong Ranges outside Melbourne ...1981 Aust. sl.
• DANDY in South Australia: a small container for ice cream ...1954 Aust. sl.
• DARLING IT HURTS Darlinghurst, a rough inner-city area of Sydney ...20C Aust. sl.
• DARLINGS, THE the prostitutes of Darlinghurst and King's Cross, Sydney ... c1930 Aust. sl.
• DARLO Darlinghurst. Sydney ...c1920 Aust. sl.
• DEAD HEART the arid inland regions of Australia ...1906 Aust. sl.
• DEAD HOUSE a room in an outback public house set aside for those who are incapably drunk ...M19 Aust. sl.
• DOMAIN COCKTAIL a lethal concoction of petrol and pepper which reputedly once had a vogue amongst deadbeat drinkers in the Sydney Domain ...L19 Aust. sl.
• DONGA, DONGER the bush; the outback ...Bk1999 Aust. sl.
• FLY SPECK, THE Tasmania ...20C Aust.
• FREMANTLE DOCTOR a refreshing sea breeze that blows into Fremantle and Perth after a hot spell ...Bk1999 Aust. sl.
• G.A.B.A. the outback (Great Australian Bugger All) ...1980s Aust. sl.
• GALAH SESSION an interval set aside regularly on the Flying Doctor radio network for anyone who wishes to exchange news and gossip rather than make emergency calls ...1950s Aust. sl.
• GHAN, THE a train that runs between Adelaide and Alice Springs ...M20 Aust. sl.
• KANAKALAND Queensland ...L19 Aust. sl.
• KANGAROOLAND Australia ...1900s Aust. sl.
• 'KANGAROOS West Australian mining shares; also, a dealer in these ...1896 Aust. Stock Exchange usage
• KENSO Kensington racecourse, Sydney ...20C Aust. sporting usage
• LEAPING LENA a train that ran from Darwin to Birdum ...1940 Aust. sl.
• LEGITIMACY † the state of immigrating to Australia as a convict ...1827 Aust. sl.
• LUCKY COUNTRY a jocular name for Australia ...Aust. sl.
• MARVELLOUS MELBOURNE Melbourne, Australia's second biggest city ...1885 Aust.
• MA STATE, THE New South Wales ...L19 Aust. colloq.
• MULGA an uninhabited, sparsely populated or inhospitable region ...L19 Aust.
• MULGA MADNESS temporary eccentricity or insanity due to living alone in the outback ...1905 Aust. sl.
• MULGA SCRUBBER a livestock animal that has run wild and deteriorated in condition ...1897 Aust. sl.
• MULGA WIRE a 'bush telegraph', the 'grapevine' ...L19 Aust.
• NEVER NEVER in Australia, the unpopulated northern part of Queensland; the desert country of the interior; remote Australia ...1833 Aust.
• OCEAN HELL the penal establishment sited on Norfolk Island for particularly recalcitrant convicts ...M19 Aust. sl.
• OCKER Australian English ...1979 Aust. sl.
• OCKERDOM the society of boorish, uncouth, chauvinistic Australians ...1974 Aust. sl.
• OCKERISM boorish behaviour, self-satisfaction ...1970s Aust. sl.
• OZ Australia ...1908 sl.
• PADDO the suburb of Paddington, Sydney ...1940s Aust. sl.
• QUEENIE Queensland, Australia ...1994 Aust. sl.
• RASPBERRY-LAND Tasmania ...20C Aust. sl.
• SADDLING PADDOCK the bar of the Theatre Royal, Melbourne, generally accepted as a place to pick up prostitutes ...M19 Aust. sl.
• SAND-GROPER LAND Western Australia ...L19 Aust. sl.
• SHOP, THE the University of Melbourne ...1889 Aust. sl.
• SKED in remote country regions: a schedule for a radio call ...1946 Aust. sl.
• STEAK AND KIDNEY Sydney ...1905 Aust. rhyming sl.
• STRINE Australian English ...1964 Aust. colloq.
• THREE Bs Bum, Bash, and Bury, what should be done with rubbish that accumulates in the outback ...1920s Aust. sl.
• TINSEL TOWN Sydney ...1980s Aust. sl.
• TOP END the Northern Territory ...Bk1999 Aust. sl.
• VASELINE VALLEY a stretch of Oxford Street, Sydney, acknowledged as the city's gay centre ...1980s Aust. sl.
• VIC Victoria, a southern state of Australia ...1902 Aust. sl.
• WALER a horse imported from Australia, esp. from New South Wales ...1849 Anglo-Indian
• WALLABY TRACK the route followed by an itinerant moving from station to station in search of work ...M19 Aust. sl.
• WESTRALIA Western Australia ...L19 Aust. sl.
Australia - person
• AB an Aboriginal ...c1870 Aust.
• ABC an Australian-born Chinese ...1990s Aust. sl.
• ABO 1. (now mainly derogatory) an Australian Aboriginal ...1908 Aust. sl.
2. an expert on Aborigine and bush customs and folktales ...1910s Aust. sl.
• ABOLIAR an expert on Aborigine bush customs and folktales ...1904 Aust. sl.
• ADELAIDEAN a native or inhabitant of the city of Adelaide ...1839
• ALF (derogatory) an ordinary, uneducated, unsophisticated Australian male ...1960 Aust. sl.
• APPLE ISLANDER an inhabitant of Tasmania ...1928 Aust. colloq.
• AUSSIE an Australian; originally, an Australian soldier in World War I ...1915
• AUSSIE BATTLER the ordinary Australian trying to make ends meet ...1886 Aust. sl.
• AUSSIELANDER an Australian ...1941 Aust.
• AUSTRALIENNE a non-Aboriginal Australian woman ...1895 Aust.
• BACK BLOCKER an inhabitant of regions remote from settled areas ...1870 Aust. sl.
• BAD NIGGER an Aborigine who refuses to cooperate with the authorities ...1910 Aust. sl.
• BALANDER an Aboriginal name for a White man ...1847 Aust. sl.
• BALT (derogatory) an immigrant to Australia from the Baltic countries, and Poland and Holland, after World War II ...1949 Aust. sl.
• BALTIE (derogatory) an immigrant to Australia from the Baltic countries, and Poland and Holland, after World War II ...1953 Aust. sl.
• BANANA BENDER a Queenslander ...1952 Aust. sl.
• BANANA BOY a native or resident of Queensland ...1890 Aust. sl.
• BANANA-EATER an inhabitant of Queensland, Australia ...1955 Aust. sl.
• BANANALANDER someone from Queensland ...1887 Aust. jocular
• BANANA MAN an inhabitant of Queensland ...1868 Aust. sl.
• BARCOO BILL a bushman ...1910 Aust. sl.
• BARRACOOTA an inhabitant of Hobart, Tasmania ...1898 Aust. sl.
• BASKETWEAVER FROM BALMAIN a trendy, basically middle-class, upwardly mobile, socially conscious, left-wing member of the Australian Labour Party, and one who has no intention of manning the barricades for any cause whatsoever ...Bk1986 Aust. sl.
• BATTLER a swagman ...1900 Aust.
• BAZZ an average, knockabout, sub-literate Australian male ...Bk1986 Aust. sl.
• BAZZA an average, knockabout, sub-literate Australian male, a fool ...Bk1986 Aust. sl.
• BIDGEE WHALER an itinerant tramp whose 'beat' focuses on the rivers of New South Wales ...M19 Aust. sl.
• BIG MAN a powerfully built Australian Rules footballer, often playing in a special position, e.g. ruckman; any Australian Rules player ...1963 Aust. sl.
• BILJIM the typical Australian male; the typical Australian soldier in WWI ...1898 Aust. sl.
• BILL a generic term for an Australian soldier ...1900 Aust. sl.
• BILL AND JIM 1. † typical outback Australians in the 1890s ...1896 Aust. sl.
2. † typical Australian soldiers in World War I ...1919 Aust. sl.
• BILLJIM the typical Australian male; an Australian soldier ...1898 Aust. sl.
• BILLY any Aboriginal singled out from the rest ...1905 Aust sl.
• BILLY BARLOW an inexperienced immigrant who meets with misadventures in the colony ...1843 Aust. sl.
• BINE an English immigrant ...1999 Aust. sl.
• BINGHI (derogatory) a White term for an Aboriginal ...1893 Aust. sl.
• BINGY an Australian Aboriginal ...1933 Aust. sl.
• BITUMEN BLONDE (derogatory) an Aboriginal girl or woman ...1943 Aust. sl.
• BLACK a man of 'black' skin; a member of a dark-skinned race, esp. a person of sub-Saharan African origin or descent; also, a person of Australian Aboriginal origin or descent ...1614
• BLACK AUSTRALIAN a native or inhabitant of Australia who is Black; an Australian Aboriginal ...1863
• BLACKBIRD an Aborigine ...1865 Aust. sl.
• BLACKBOY 1. * (offensive) an Australian Aboriginal man ...1810
2. (offensive) an Aboriginal guide accompanying explorers ...1893
• BLACKBOYS aboriginal servants in Australia ...Bk1892 Aust. sl.
• BLACKBUTT a native Australian ...1910 Aust. sl.
• BLACKFELLA, BLACKFELLER an Aborigine; a dark-skinned person ...Bk1988 Aust. sl.
• BLACKFELLOW (now usually offensive) an Australian aboriginal ...1827
• BLACK HAT a newly-arrived immigrant ...1887 Aust. sl.
• BLACK MAN a dark-skinned man, esp. a man of sub-Saharan African or Australian Aboriginal origin or descent ...a1398
• BLACK TRACKER an Australian Aboriginal employed by police to track down fugitives or persons lost in the bush ...1862 Aust.
• BLACK VELVET (offensive) a Black, Aboriginal, or Maori woman, esp. as the focus of a White man's sexual interest ...1899 Aust. & NZ sl.
• BODGIE a member of a male subculture of the 1950s, similar to Britain's teddy-boys, identifiable by a flashy style of dress ...1952 Aust. sl.
• BOONG (derogatory) an Australian Aboriginal ...1924 Aust. sl.
• BOUNDARY-RIDER one who rides around the fences of a station, and repairs them when broken ...1865 Aust.
• BRISSO a person lives in Brisbane ...Aust. sl.
• BUNJI a White man, often old, and impoverished, who pursues Aboriginal women for sex ...1970s Aust. sl.
• CABBAGE a native or inhabitant of Victoria, Australia ...L19 Aust. sl.
• CABBAGE GARDENER a native of Victoria, Australia ...1882 Aust. sl.
• CABBAGE PATCHER a native of Victoria, Australia ...1882 Aust. sl.
• CABBAGE STATER a native of Victoria, Australia ...1882 Aust. sl.
• CABBAGE TREE MOB an unruly set of young fellows, dressed in a suit of fustian or colonial tweed, and the emblem of their order, the low-crowned cabbage-palm hat - the main object of their enmity seems to be the ordinary black headpiece worn by respectable persons, which is ruthlessly knocked over the eyes of the wearer as he passes or enters the theatre ...1852 Aust. sl.
• CABBAGITES a class of layabouts or roughs, typified by the wearing of a 'cabbage-tree hat' (a hat made from the dried leaves of the cabbage-palm - they were esteemed as a protection from the sun, and allowed free ventilation) ...c1850 Aust. sl.
• CARPET BUSHMAN a businessman who owns land in the outback but rarely visits ...1910s Aust. sl.
• CHOCOLATE SOLDIER (derogatory) a member of an Australian militia during World War II who did not serve in a theatre of war ...1943 Aust. sl.
• COLLINS STREET SQUATTER a man, usually a youth, who frequents bars, cafes, etc. for no other reason that meeting his friends, gossiping and wasting time ...1960s Aust. (Melbourne) sl.
• COMBO a White man who lives with an Aboriginal woman ...1896 Aust. sl.
• COMBOMAN a White man who lives with an Aboriginal woman ...1896 Aust. sl.
• CORNSTALK orig. a native-born, non-aboriginal Australian - later, a person from New South Wales ...1827 Aust. sl.
• COVE a master or overseer of an Australian station ...Bk1892 Aust. sl.
• CREAMY a person of mixed European and Australian Aboriginal heritage ...1912 Aust. sl.
• CROW-EATER a South Australian ...1902 Aust. colloq.
• CURRENCY persons born in Australia ...Bk1892 Aust. sl.
• DARK CLOUD (derogatory) an Australian aboriginal ...1945 Aust. sl.
• DARKEE, DARKEY, DARKIE, DARKY (now derogatory or offensive) an Australian aborigine; any person having very dark skin as a racial trait ...1775 sl.
• DARKMAN (derogatory) an Aborigine ...1970s Aust. sl.
• DARLING WHALER an itinerant tramp whose 'beat' focuses on the rivers of New South Wales ...M19 Aust. sl.
• DIG a digger ...1916 Aust. & NZ sl.
• DIGGER an Australian; an Australian or NZ soldier in World Wars I and II, esp. a private ...1916 sl.
• DINGO an Australian ...2002 NZ sl.
• DINKUM an Australian or New Zealand soldier in the First World War; an Anzac; generally, an Australian or New Zealander ...1916
• DINKUM AUSSIE a person who embodies all those things seen as characteristically Australian ...1920 Aust. sl.
• DOMAIN DOSSER a loafer or down-and-out who frequents the Sydney Domain ...Aust. sl.
• DUNGAREE SETTLER a poor settler, or one of low social status ...1826 Aust. colloq.
• EGGS-A-COOK Australian soldiers ...1915 Aust. military sl.
• EMU-BOBBER a man employed to pick up the remnants after clearing or burning off in the bush ...1920s Aust. sl.
• FORTY a fraudulent gambler - orig. applied to the members of a Sydney gang ...1876 Aust. sl.
• GEEBUNG 1. an unsophisticated, uncultured, philistine native-born Australian, who values material gain above everything else ...1864 Aust. sl.
2. an old settler in New South Wales ...1874 Aust.
• GEORGE STREET BACKBLOCKER a business man who owns land in the outback but rarely if ever visits ...1912 Aust. sl.
• GHAN an Afghan or Muslim immigrant to Australia, esp. one who drives or breeds camels ...1907 Aust. sl.
• GIN 1. (now considered offensive) an Australian Aboriginal woman or wife ...1790 Aust.
2. any woman or wife; also, an old woman ...c1880 Aust.
• GIN-BANGER a White man who enjoys sexual relations with Aborigine women ...1912 Aust. sl.
• GIN-BOY a White man who enjoys sexual relations with Aborigine women ...1892 Aust. sl.
• GIN BURGLAR a White man who enjoys sexual relations with an Aboriginal woman ...1947 Aust.
• GIN CUDDLER a White man who has casual sexual relations with Aboriginal women ...1954 Aust. sl.
• GIN DOZZLER a White man who has casual sexual relations with Aboriginal women ...1977 Aust. sl.
• GIN JOCKEY a White man who has casual sexual relations with Aboriginal women ...1955 Aust. sl.
• GIN MAN a White man who has casual sexual relations with Aboriginal women ...1963 Aust. sl.
• GIN MASHER a White man who has casual sexual relations with Aboriginal women ...1902 Aust. sl.
• GINNY (now considered offensive) an Australian Aboriginal woman or wife ...1901 Aust.
• GIN SHEPHERD 1. (derogatory) a person who seeks to protect Aboriginal women from White men ...1947 Aust. sl.
2. a White man who has casual sexual relations with Aboriginal women ...1958 Aust. sl.
• GIN SHEPHERDER a White man who has casual sexual relations with Aboriginal women ...1926 Aust. sl.
• GIN STEALER a White man who has casual sexual relations with Aboriginal women ...1925 Aust. sl.
• GROPER a Western Australian, esp. a (descendant of an) early settler ...1899 Aust. sl.
• GUM-SUCKER a native Australian, esp. a Victorian or Tasmanian ...1855 Aust.
• GUTTA-PERCHA an inhabitant of the state of Victoria ...L19 Aust. sl.
• HALF-ABO (offensive) a person having one Australian Aboriginal parent ...1945 Aust.
• HALF-FORWARD in Australian Rules Football: a player occupying a half-forward position, which comes between the centre and full-forward positions ...1968
• HALF-FORWARD FLANKER in Australian Rules Football: a half-forward in the side position ...1963
• HANDBAG a male not taking a proper manly role, esp. an Australian Rules player ...1985 Aust. sl.
• HELL TERRORS Australians; so called by the Germans ...Amer. World War I sl.
• ILLEGITIMATE a free (non-convict) Australian settler ...19C Aust. sl.
• INLANDER an inhabitant of the sparsely settled interior of Australia ...1911 Aust. sl.
• JACKAROO, JACKEROO 1. a White man living beyond the bounds of 'civilization' ...M19
2. an apprentice station hand working on, and learning how to manage, a cattle or sheep station ...1845 Aust. sl.
3. a man newly arrived from England to gain experience in the bush; an inexperienced young colonist ...1880 Aust. colloq.
• JACKERY a popular or favoured station-hand; usually in plural ...1890 Aust. sl.
• JACKEY, JACKIE, JACKY (offensive) a generic name for the Australian Aboriginal ...1845 Aust. sl.
• JACKY-JACKY (derogatory) (a nickname for) an Australian Aboriginal ...1845 Aust. sl.
• JEW CHUM 'new chum'; a newcomer to Australia; a Jewish newcomer ...20C Aust. rhyming sl.
• KANACKA, KANAKA, KANAKER a native of the Pacific Islands, esp. one employed in Queensland as a labourer on the sugar plantations ...1840
• KANAKALANDER a Queenslander ...L19 Aust. sl.
• KANGAROO 1. a native of Australia ...1888 humorous
2. a dealer in West Australian mining shares ...1896 Aust. Stock Exchange usage
• KANGO an Australian ...1940s sl.
• LEGITIMATE a settler who arrived in Australia as a transported convict ...1827 Aust. sl.
• MAGPIE 1. a nickname for a South Australian ...1910s Aust. sl.
2. a half-caste ...1980s Aust. sl.
• MAINLANDER one who lives on the mainland of Australia, rather then Tasmania ...1940s Aust. sl.
• MARY an Aboriginal woman or other non-white woman ...1830 Aust. sl.
• MERINO a person who has chosen to settle in Australia, as opposed to a convict or ex-convict; hence, a member of a leading family in Australian society; a person of fine breeding or good character ...1934 Aust. & NZ colloq.
• MERRY ANZACS casual Australians ...Bk1919 Aust. services sl.
• MEXICAN in eastern Australia, a person from a state south of one's own; in Queensland it refers to either New South Wales inhabitants or Victorians - in New South Wales it refers to Victorians ...1991 Aust. sl.
• MOLESKIN SQUATTER * a working man who has scraped up enough cash to buy a small sheep run ...1941 Aust. & NZ sl.
• MONKEY-DODGER a sheep-station hand ...1899 Aust. sl.
• MOUNTAIN DEVIL a native of Tasmania ...1876 Aust. sl.
• MULGA BILL a bushman ...L19 Aust.
• MURRAY WHALER an itinerant tramp whose 'beat' focuses on the rivers of New South Wales ...M19 Aust. sl.
• MURRUMBIDGEE WHALER an itinerant tramp whose 'beat' focuses on the rivers of New South Wales ...M19 Aust. sl.
• MUTTON BIRD (humorous or derogatory) a Tasmanian; esp. a non-Aboriginal inhabitant of northern Tasmania ...1892 Aust. sl.
• MUTTON-BIRD EATER (humorous or derogatory) a Tasmanian; esp. a non-Aboriginal inhabitant of northern Tasmania ...1941 Aust. sl.
• MUTTON-EATER a native of northern Tasmania ...20C Aust. sl.
• NAUSIE, NAUSSIE a New Australian, esp. a recent migrant from Europe ...1959 Aust. sl.
• NEVERSWEAT a council worker ...1970s Aust. sl.
• NEWSTRALIAN a New Australian, i.e. any immigrant, usually from continental Europe, whose first language is not English ...1950s Aust. sl.
• NOGGY (derogatory or offensive) an Asian immigrant to Australia ...1954 Aust. sl.
• OCK a boorish, loutish, unsophisticated, ultra-nationalistic Australian ...1970s Aust. sl.
• OCKER orig. a nickname for an Australian man - later, a typically rough or aggressively boorish Australian ...1916 Aust. sl.
• OCKERINA a female Australian who is boorish, loutish, unsophisticated ...1970s Aust. sl.
• OLD CHUM an experienced colonist; one who had spent some years in the colony, esp. in the outback ...Aust. hist. sl.
• OZ an Australian ...1971 sl., orig. Aust.
• OZZIE an Australian ...1918 sl.
• PARCEL POST used in the Northern Territory to describe a person who is newly arrived and thus inexperienced ...1930s Aust. sl.
• PARRA 1. an inhabitant of the western suburbs of Sydney ...1950s Aust. sl.
2. (derogatory) in Sydney region: a visiting non-resident of a beachside area ...1985 Aust. sl.
• PIE-EATER (derogatory) a resident of South Australia ...1980 Aust. sl.
• POON a lonely, crazy inhabitant of the outback ...1941 Aust. sl.
• PURE MERINO a person who has chosen to settle in Australia, as opposed to a convict or ex-convict; hence, a member of a leading family in Australian society; a person of fine breeding or good character ...1826 Aust. & NZ colloq.
• QUEEN STREET BUSHIE in Queensland: a city person with pretenses to country living, such as dressing like a cowboy or driving a 4WD ...2003 Aust. sl.
• QUEEN STREET COWBOY in Queensland: a city person with pretenses to country living, such as dressing like a cowboy or driving a 4WD ...2003 Aust. sl.
• QUEEN STREET RINGER in Queensland: a city person with pretenses to country living, such as dressing like a cowboy or driving a 4WD ...2003 Aust. sl.
• RABBIT a native-born Australian - 1907 Aust. sl.
• RANGER a bushranger ...L19 Aust. sl.
• RASPBERRY-LANDERS Tasmanians ...20C Aust. sl.
• RUGGER BUGGER a macho footballer ...1966 Aust. sl.
• SAND-GROPER a non-Aboriginal person, native to or resident in Western Australia ...1896 Aust. sl.
• SCRUB-TURKEY an itinerant who moves around the Australian bush; his long absence from urban life may have rendered him slightly eccentric ...1950s Aust. sl.
• SKIP an Anglo-Australian ...1987 Aust.
• SKIPPY a term for an English-, Irish-, or Scottish-descent Australian ...Bk1999 Aust. sl.
• STERLING a colonist born in England; natives of England ...Bk1892 Aust. sl.
• SUNDOWNER a tramp who makes a practice of arriving at a station about sundown under the pretense of seeking work, so as to obtain food and a night's lodging ...1875 Aust. colloq.
• TARPOT (derogatory) an Aborigine ...1894 Aust. sl.
• TASSEY, TASSIE, TASSY a Tasmanian ...1899 Aust. sl.
• TASSIE TIGER a Tasmanian ...Bk1999 Aust. sl.
• TOP ENDER a person from the Top End, the northern parts of the Northern Territory ...1941 Aust. sl.
• TOTHERSIDER a person from the eastern states of Australia ...c1872 Aust. sl.
• UGLY AUSTRALIAN a rough, loutish Australian; an Australian yobbo ...1974 Aust. sl.
• UNBLEACHED AUSTRALIAN a Native Australian; an Aboriginal ...L19 sl.
• UPTOPPER an inhabitant of northern Australia ...1950s Aust. sl.
• VANDEMONIAN an ex-convict from Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania) ...1855 Aust. sl.
• VAN DIEMONIAN an inhabitant of Tasmania ...1852
• WADGELLA a White man ...1927 Aust. pidgin version of 'whitefellow'
• WALER a native of New South Wales ...1885 Aust. sl.
• WALTZING MATILDA an Australian soldier ...World War I Amer. sl.
• WESTIE a person who lives in the western suburbs of Sydney ...1980s Aust. sl.
• WESTRALIAN a Western Australian ...L19 Aust. sl.
• WHALER an itinerant tramp whose 'beat' focuses on the rivers of New South Wales ...M19 Aust. sl.
• WHITE LEGHORN in Australian Rules football: an umpire ...Bk1988 Aust. sl.
• WONGI a native of the Kalgoorlie region ...1950 Aust. sl.
• WONK a non-Aboriginal Australian; used contemptuously or dismissively ...1938 Aust. sl.
• WOOLLOOMOOLOO YANK a World War II term for a local youth affecting American airs or assuming an American accent ...Bk1999 Aust. sl.
• YALLER GAL a mixed-race, a half-white, half-Black or Aborigine woman ...1834 Aust. & US sl.
• YAMIDGEE, YAMMIDGEE an Aboriginal, esp. an Aboriginal male ...1925 Aust. sl.
• YAMMAGI an Aboriginal, esp. an Aboriginal male ...1925 Aust. sl.
• YARRA BANKER an idler; a loafer found on the banks of Melbourne's Yarra River ...1895 Aust. sl.
• YARRA BENDER an idler, a loafer found on the banks of Melbourne's Yarra River ...1885 Aust. sl.
• YARRASIDER an inhabitant of Victoria ...1949 Aust. sl.
• YELLER FELLA a male half-caste ...1937 Aust. sl.
• YELLER FELLER a mixed-race, half-white, half-Aborigine man ...1913 Aust. sl.
• YELLOW AND BLACK an Aboriginal ...1885 Aust. sl.
• YELLOW FELLER a person of mixed Aboriginal and White parentage ...1913 Aust. sl.
• YELLOW FELLOW a mixed-race, half-white, half-Aborigine man ...1834 Aust. & US sl.
• YELLOW GIRL a light-skinned Black woman, esp. if sexually attractive; a mixed-race, a half-white, half-Black or Aborigine woman; a female mulatto ...1832 sl.
• YELLOW TAIL a person from New South Wales ...1978 Aust. sl.
Australia - verbs
• GO ON THE WALLABY TRACK to go on foot, up-country, in search of work ...Bk1892 Aust. sl.
• GO WALKABOUT of an Aboriginal: to go on a walkabout ...1927 Aust.
• RABBIT in Australian football: 'to collar a player by the ankles when his running with the ball' ...20C Aust. sporting usage
Australia - phrases
• IF IT MOVES SHOOT IT, IF IT DOESN'T CHOP IT DOWN said to be Australia's national creed ...Bk1999 Aust. sl.
• ON THE BOIL in football: running at full speed ...Aust. sl.
AUTHENTIC - adjectives
• ALL WOOL AND A YARD WIDE totally trustworthy; authentic; thoroughly honourable ...1882
• ALL WOOL, A YARD LONG AND A YARD WIDE totally trustworthy; authentic; thoroughly honourable ...1913
• DINKY-DIE genuine, authentic, honest, straightforward ...E20 Aust. & NZ sl.
• FAIR DINK genuine, authentic, honest, straightforward ...E20 Aust. & NZ colloq.
• FAIR DINKUM genuine, authentic, honest, straightforward ...L19 Aust. & NZ colloq.
• PUKKA certain, reliable; authentic, true; proper, socially acceptable ...L18
• SIMON-PURE real, genuine, authentic ...1889
• SQUARE DINKUM genuine, authentic, honest, straightforward ...L19 Aust. & NZ colloq.
• STRAIGHT DINKUM genuine, authentic, honest, straightforward ...L19 Aust. & NZ colloq.
authentic - nouns
• GENUINE ARTICLE, THE a person or thing held to be an authentic or excellent example of a particular type ...1794
• REAL SIMON PURE, THE the real, genuine, or authentic person or thing ...a1832
• SIMON PURE, THE the real, genuine, or authentic person or thing ...1815
authentic - person
• GENUINE ARTICLE, THE a person or thing held to be an authentic or excellent example of a particular type ...1794
AUTHENICATE - verbs
• QUALIFY † to prove; to authenticate, to make good; to testify to ...1746 Sc. & N. Eng. dial.
AUTHOR - adjectives
• AUCTORIAL pert. to an author ...1821
• FATHERLESS † of a book, etc.: without a known author; anonymous ...1611
• ONYMOUS * having or bearing a name; of a writing: bearing the name of the author; of an author: that gives his name; the opposite of 'anonymous' ...1775
author - person
• ARTHUR author ...1915 Amer. dial.
• AUTHORLING a petty author; an insignificant writer ...1771
• BOOKER - † a writer of books ...OE
• BOOKMAN - an author or publisher - a literary man
• CACKLE-MERCHANT - † a dramatic author; the author of a play ...c1860 theatrical usage
• FACTOR - † one who makes or does anything - a doer, maker, performer, or perpetrator - an author of a literary work ...1563 obs. or arch.
• GARRETEER - one who lives in a garret; esp. an impecunious author or literary hack ...1653
• HEDGE-WRITER - † a Grub-street writer or low author; a mean or poor author or writer ...Bk1895
• HERO OF THE QUILL - a distinguished author ...1823 sl.
• INK-SLINGER - a journalist or author ...1888 sl.
• INKSPILLER - a journalist or author ...1892 sl.
• INK-WASTER - a journalist or author ...1894 sl.
• KNIGHT OF THE QUILL - an author - a writer - a journalist ...L17 colloq.
• NEOTERIC - a modern - a modern writer or author ...1598
• ORTHOR - author ...1863 Amer. dial.
• PAPER-STAINER - used humorously for an inferior author or clerk - an author of small repute ...1596 humorous
• QUILL-DRIVER - one who works with a quill or pen - a clerk or author - chiefly used contemptuously ...1760
• SAYAR - a narrator or author; a poetical writer; a poet ...c1460 Sc.
• WRITERLING a petty writer or journalist; an author of the baser sort ...Bk1881
• WRITRIX - † a female writer - an authoress ...1772 nonce word
author - verbs
• BETRAVAIL † to work at; to compose a book, to be the author of, to write ...1387
• GRUB-STAKE to give an author money to keep him going while he writes a book...c1920 publishers' colloq.
AUTHORITARIAN - verbs
• BOSS AROUND to direct or control someone in an offensively authoritarian way ...1850s Amer. sl.
AUTHORITATIVE, AUTHORITY - adjectives
• EYELESS † having no fear of authority; lacking reverence or respect for authority y...c1175
• MAGISTERIAL 1. assuming authority; dictatorial ...1632
2. pert. to a master or teacher, or one qualified to speak with authority ...1632
• MAGISTERIOUS exercising the authority of a master ...17C obs.
• MAGISTRAL * pert. to or befitting a master; authoritative, dogmatic ...1605
• MASTERLIKE † resembling a master; despotic, autocratic, sovereign; authoritative, magisterial; exhibiting masterly ability or skill ...1580
• PLENIPOTENT * possessing full power or authority ...1658
• PUISSANT possessed of or wielding power; having great authority or influence; mighty, potent, powerful, strong, forcible ...a1450 arch.
• SUGETABLE †* subject to authority ...1382
authoritative, authority - nouns
• AUTORITY † authority ...Bk1898 Eng. dial.
• BANDON † jurisdiction, authority, dominion, control; power of disposal, full discretion, or authority to deal with ...c1230
• CHICKEN an excessive show of authority; unnecessary discipline or regimentation, in either military or civilian life ...1940s US sl., orig. military
• EYELESSNESS † lack of fear or respect for authority ...a1000
• EYELEST † lack of fear or respect for authority ...c1275
• FAY † credit, authority ...c1374 obs. or arch.
• IMPERATIVENESS commanding quality; authoritativeness ...1840
• JACKBOOT arbitrary, cruel, and authoritarian rule or behaviour
• MAGISTERIALITY † mastership; authoritative position ...1655
• MAGISTERIALNESS † the quality of being magisterial; assumption of authority ...1651
• MAGISTERIOUSNESS † assumption of authority ...1650
• MAGISTRALITY † authoritative character; to right to lay down the law or to dogmatize ...1603
• MAN, THE a person or group asserting power or authority over another, esp. in a manner experienced as being oppressive, demeaning, or threatening, as an employer, the police, or dominating racial group
• ONWALD † power, rule, authority ...c893
• SAY authority, influence, voice ...1835 Sc. & Eng. dial.
• SAY-SO 1. an authoritative statement
2. final authority; directing influence
authoritative, authority - person
• BALEBOSS the head of the house; a store owner; a manager; anyone in authority ...Bk1998 Yiddish
• BIG BOPPER, THE a person holding paramount authority ...1966 US sl.
• BIG STICK a person of authority, as a police officer or foreman; a marshal ...1966 Amer. dial.
• BOSS-MAN an employer; a supervisor; a person in authority ...1908 Amer. dial.
• CHEESE an insignificant person, esp. an unworthy person in a position of authority ...20C Amer. sl.
• GAFFER a foreman; an overseer; head man; a person in authority ...1841
• GEEZER an authority figure ...1975 sl.
• HAMMER a man who exercises authority over others ...1989 US sl.
• HAMMER-MAN a man who exercises authority over others; an authoritarian figure ...1929 US Black sl.
• HEAD a person in authority ...1916 Aust. sl.
• HEAD BOTTLE WASHER a person in authority; a foreman ...1915 sl.
• HEAD BUCK-CAT a person in authority ...1968 Irish sl.
• HEAD BUMMAROO the chief, the person in charge; the most important person present; the manager ...1984 UK sl.
• HEAD BUMMER the chief, the boss; the person in charge ...1919 sl.
• HEAD GIRL a girl occupying a position of authority or seniority ...1941
• HEADKICKER a person in authority who is aggressive ...1999 Aust. sl.
• HEAD KNOCK a person having primary authority; a boss, a foreman, etc. ...1944 US Black sl.
• HEAD KNOCKER a person having primary authority; a boss, a foreman, etc. ...1886 US sl.
• HEAD LAR the man in charge ...Bk1997 Irish sl.
• HEAD NEGRO a sarcastic reference to any Black authority figure ...1992 US Black sl.
• HEAD NEGRO IN CHARGE a sarcastic reference to any Black authority figure ...2002 US Black sl.
• HEAD NIGGER IN CHARGE a sarcastic reference to any Black authority figure; the leader of an enterprise ...1973 US Black sl.
• HEAD PUSH the person in charge ...1913 US sl.
• HEADS, THE those in authority ...1916 Aust. sl.
• HEAD SERAG the master or overseer; anyone in authority ...Bk1865 sl.
• HEAD SERANG the boss or person in charge ...1918 Aust. sl.
• HEAD SHEBANG the boss or person in charge ...Bk1988 Aust. sl.
• HEAD SHERANG the boss or person in charge ...1918 Aust. sl.
• HELL MASTER a person who is bossy or overly authoritative ...Bk1989 US college sl.
• HER GILLS a self-important person, an authority; 'his nibs' ...1911 sl., chiefly Aust.
• HER INDOORS - one's wife or girlfriend; also applied more generally to any woman occupying a position of authority who is regarded as domineering ...1979 Brit. colloq.
• HIGHER-UP one of the persons in charge; a member of the upper echelon ...1916 US sl.
• HIGH JINKS a person of real or imagined authority; a self-important person ...1969 Amer. dial.
• HIGH MAN ON THE TOTEM POLE a person of authority and importance ...Bk1980 Amer. sl.
• HIGH MOGUL a person of real or imagined authority; a self-important person ...1906 Amer. dial.
• HIGH MUCK a person of real or imagined authority; a self-important person; an important, pompous person; a socially prominent person ...1856 Amer. dial.
• HIGH MUCKY-MUCK a person of real or imagined authority; a self-important person ...1856 Amer. colloq.
• HIGH-UP a high-ranking, influential, or important person; the boss, the leader; a person in authority ...1882 colloq.
• HIS GILLS a self-important person, an authority; 'his nibs' ...1889 sl., chiefly Aust.
• HIS JILLS a self-important person, an authority; 'his nibs' ...1889 sl., chiefly Aust.
• HIS NIBS somebody in authority ...1812 sl.
• H.N.I.C. a Black person in a position of authority; a Head Nigger in Charge ...1972 US sl.
• INDUNA a person, esp. a Black person, in authority - a foreman ...M20 S. Afr.
• JOKER anyone who is given authority but performs their work with irritating incompetence, thus a 'disgrace to one's profession' ...20C W. Indies
• KILLJOY a policeman or any authority figure ...1920s US Black sl.
• KING BEE a man in a position of authority or dominance ...1875 Amer. dial.
• MACGREGOR, THE the leading man; the chief personage; the person in authority ...1929 Sc.
• MACNAB, THE the person in authority - the chief personage ...1840 Sc.
• MAIN GUY, THE a man of importance, prominence, or authority; the boss ; the leader ...1882 Amer. sl.
• MAIN KAZOO - a man of importance or authority ...1903 Amer. sl.
• MAN - one in authority, such as the skipper of a boat, or a male school teacher ...c1895 Sc.
• MAN, THE - the person or people in authority ...1918 US sl.
• NEARDY - a person in authority - a master - a parent - a foreman ...Bk1902 Eng. dial.
• OLD BOY - any oldish man, or one in authority, as one's father, a headmaster, etc....19C colloq.
• PEA, THE - the person in authority - the boss ...1969 Aust. sl.
• PLENIPOTENT - * a person possessing full power or authority ...1818
• PUNDIT - a learned person, expert, or authority ...17C
• QUEEN BEE - a person, usually a woman, in a position of authority or dominance - a domineering woman or wife ...1930 Amer. dial.
• SILK - an authority figure...1980s US sl.
• TALE'S-MAN - the authority for a statement - one who brings news or originates a statement ...1768 Sc.
• TALE'S-MASTER - the authority for a statement - one who brings news or originates a statement ...Bk1905 Eng. dial.
• UNDERLING - a subordinate - one subject to authority ...c1175
• VIKING CHEAT - a member of the Establishment - an authority - hence, an oppressor ...1990s W. Indies sl.
• WARDEN - a parent or any other authority figure ...1968 US teen sl.
authoritative, authority - verbs
• CRACK THE WHIP to assert authority suddenly or forcibly
• FACULTATE * to invest with authority; to empower; to authorize ...1648
• HAVE THE TAPE to have authority ...Bk1905 Eng. dial.
• SHOW ONE'S MAN to use one's authority; to domineer ...Bk1905 Eng. dial.
• TAKE † to assume authority or importance ...c1470
• WEAR THE BREECHES to have the real authority; usually said of a woman or wife ...1666
• WEAR THE BRITCHES to have the real authority; usually said of a woman or wife ...1909 Amer. dial.
• WIELD THE SCEPTRE to exercise supreme authority, to rule ...L16
• WRITE THE BOOK to be very authoritative or seasoned; to be an expert ...1980s Amer. sl.
AUTHORIZATION - nouns
• ALL-CLEAR denoting authorization to proceed with something; a signal that there is no further danger ...1930s Amer. sl.
AUTHORIZE - verbs
• LEAL †* to legalize, to authorize ...c1350
AUTHORSHIP - nouns
• GOOD LETTERS † book-learning, letters; the profession of literature, authorship ...c1532
AUTOBIOGRAPHY - person
• AUTOBIOGRAPHIST an autobiographer ...1840
AUTOCRAT - person
• MOGUL - an important, influential, powerful, or dominant person; an autocrat; a business or media magnate ...1653
AUTOCRATIC - adjectives
• MASTERLIKE † resembling a master; despotic, autocratic, sovereign; authoritative, magisterial; exhibiting masterly ability or skill ...1580
AUTOGRAPH - nouns
• HANDWRIT † handwriting; autograph; signature ...c1200
autograph - person
• AUTOGRAPH HOUND a collector of autographs, esp. an offensive person who clamours for the autographs of celebrities ...1933 Amer. colloq.
AUTOMATE - verbs
• CYBERNATE to control by machines or computers; to automate ...1962
AUTOMATIC TELLER MACHINE - see CASH MACHINE
AUTOMATION - nouns
• CYBERNATION control, esp. of an industrial process, by machines or computers; automation ...1962
AUTOMOBILE - see VEHICLE
AUTOPSY - adjectives
• AUTOPSIC pert. to autopsy; based on personal observation ...1881
autopsy - nouns
• NECROPSY a post-mortem examination, an autopsy ...1856
• POST an autopsy ...1942 sl.
autopsy - person
• CANOE-MAKER an autopsy surgeon ...1970 US police sl.
autopsy - verbs
• POST to perform an autopsy on someone ...1942 sl.
AUTUMN - adjectives
• AUTUMNIAN † belonging to autumn ...1606
autumn - nouns
• AFTER-END the autumn ...Bk1898 Eng. dial.
• BACK-END the later part of the year; the late autumn ...1820
• BLUEBIRD WEATHER a brief period of warm weather in autumn ...1943 Amer. dial.
• FALLING OF THE LEAF, THE autumn ...1503
• FALLING WEATHER autumn, fall ...1942 Amer. dial.
• FALL OF THE LEAF † autumn ...1545
• FALL OF THE YEAR autumn ...1844 Sc. & Eng. dial.
• GAB O' WINTER, THE a spell of cold weather in early autumn ...1916 Sc.
• HARVEST the third of the four seasons of the year, the autumn ...902 obs. exc. Eng. dial.
• LEAF-FALL the fall of the leaf, autumn ...1840 poet.
• MOUNTAIN DAY a fall day of exceptionally fine weather ...1939 Amer. dial.
AVAIL - nouns
• GAIN † advantage, use, avail, benefit; remedy, help ...c1200
avail - verbs
• BESTEAD to be of service or use to; to avail ...1589
• GAIN † to be suitable, useful or advantageous; to avail, to help; to serve, to suffice ...c1200
• SKILL to avail, to help ...1528 arch.
• YAIN † to avail ...c1315
AVAILABLE - adjectives
• BACK IN CIRCULATION available again after a broken engagement or other broken commitment ...20C US sl.
• GAIN † of things: available, handy, useful, convenient ...a1300 obs. exc. Eng. dial.
• ON DECK available, prepared ...L19 sl.
• ON OFFER available ...2000 UK sl.
• UNGAINABLE not easily available ...Bk1905 Eng. dial.
AVALANCHE - adjectives
• AVALANCHY liable to descend in or be swept by an avalanche ...1894
avalanche - nouns
• BERGFALL a falling of rock fragments or debris; an avalanche of stones ...1856
• ICE-BOLT an avalanche ...1879
• LAUWINE an avalanche ...1818
• LAVANGE * an avalanche ...1806
• VALANCHE †* an avalanche ...1766
• VOLLENGE † an avalanche ...1830
AVARICE - nouns
• CHINCHERY † niggardliness, miserliness, avarice ...c1386
AVARICIOUS - adjectives
• AVAROUS, AVERISH, AVEROUS † avaricious, covetous, greedy ...1303 obs. exc. Eng. dial.
• GRABBY avaricious, greedy ...Bk1942 Amer. sl.
• GRIPPY grasping, avaricious ...Sc.
• GRIPULOUS † grasping, greedy, avaricious ...1614
• HOG FOR, A avaricious, greedy ...Bk1942 Amer. sl.
• HOGGY avaricious, greedy ...Bk1942 Amer. sl.
• HOOKEM-SNIVEY avaricious, greedy ...Bk1942 Amer. sl.
• INGORDIGIOUS †* greedy, avaricious ...1637
• KEEN of a person: avaricious, driving a hard bargain, looking sharply after one's own interests ...1902 Sc.
• LUCROUS † avaricious, covetous ...1551
• MISERTISH miserly, avaricious ...1824 Sc.
• MISERTLY miserly, avaricious ...Bk1903 N. Ireland
• ON THE MAKE said of someone intent on profit; avaricious; greedy ...1869 orig. US
• PHILARGYROUS † loving money, greedy of gain, covetous, avaricious ...1665
• PIGGY avaricious, greedy ...Bk1942 Amer. sl.
• SCRAPE-GOOD † miserly, stingy, avaricious ...a1693
• SHONKY avaricious, mean; money-grubbing ...1951 sl.
• SILVER-SICK † avaricious ...a1500
avaricious - nouns
• AVARITION †* the quality of being avaricious; greediness of wealth ...1622
avaricious - person
• GED † a greedy or avaricious person; a glutton ...1825 Sc.
• GIPE, GYPE † a glutton; a greedy or avaricious person ...1662 Sc. & Eng. dial.
• MESSALINA a voracious, avaricious woman ...1975 US sl.
• MISERD a miser, a close-fisted, avaricious person ...1898 Sc. & Eng. dial.
• MONEY-GRUB one who is sordidly intent on amassing money - an avaricious person ...1768
• MONEY-GRUBBER a person who seeks assiduously to acquire or accumulate money, esp. by sordid or contemptible methods; a person motivated chiefly by avarice or commercialism; an avaricious or rapacious person...1825
• NEEDMORE an avaricious or greedy person ...1968 Amer. dial.
• SCORRIE - an avaricious, quarrelsome person ...1961 Sc.
• SCRAPE - a miser - a greedy, avaricious person ...Bk1904 Sc.
• SCRAPE-PENNY - † one who gathers and hoards money in trifling sums - an avaricious or penurious person - a miserly, stingy person - a niggard ...1584
• SCRAPIE - a miser - a greedy, avaricious person ...Bk1904 Sc.
• SCRIMGER - an avaricious, covetous person ...Bk1904 Sc.
• SNIG † a covetous or avaricious person ...1629
• SNUDGE - † a mean, avaricious person - a niggard - a miser - a stingy person - an intrusive, sponging fellow ...1545 obs. exc. Eng. dial.
• SUCK-EGG - an avaricious person ...1609
• THROTTLE-POKE - a grasping, avaricious person ...Bk1905 Eng. dial.
avaricious - verbs
• RAKE AND SCRAPE to collect everything one can lay one's hands on for one's own advantage; to be over-grasping and avaricious ...Bk1905 Eng. dial.
• SKIN A FLEA FOR ITS HIDE to be excessively mean and avaricious ...1868
• SKIN A FLEA FOR ITS HIDE AND TALLOW to go to great lengths to save money; to be avaricious, mean, niggardly, or stingy ...1819 Amer. dial.
• SKIN A GNAT FOR A PENNY to go to great lengths to save money; to be avaricious, mean, or stingy ...1965 Amer. dial.
• SKIN A LOUSE to go to great lengths to save money; to be avaricious, mean, or stingy ...1803 Amer. dial.
• SKIN A LOUSE FOR A CENT to go to great lengths to save money; to be avaricious, mean, or stingy ...1965 Amer. dial.
• SKIN A LOUSE FOR HIS HIDE to go to great lengths to save money; to be avaricious, mean, or stingy ...1965 Amer. dial.
• SKIN A LOUSE FOR HIS HIDE AND TALLOW to go to great lengths to save money; to be avaricious, mean, or stingy ...1965 Amer. dial.
• SKIN A LOUSE FOR TALLOW to go to great lengths to save money; to be avaricious, mean, or stingy ...1965 Amer. dial.
AVENGE - verbs
• AWREAK † to avenge ...1048
• BEWREAK † to avenge; to give vent in action to incensed feelings ...c1325
• VENGE to avenge, to execute revenge ...a1300 arch.
AVENGEMENT - nouns
• ULTION †* vengeance, revenge, avengement ...c1550
AVENGER - person
• NEMESIS the goddess of retribution or vengeance; hence, one who avenges or punishes ...1576
• ULTRICE † a female avenger ...1490
• VENGER an avenger; one who takes vengeance on a person ...a1340 now poetic
• VENGERESS †* a female avenger ...c1374
• VENGESOUR †* an avenger ...1382
AVENGING - adjectives
• VENGEANT † avenging; executing vengeance; inflicting retributive punishment ...a1340
• VENGING avenging; executing vengeance ...c1470
AVENUE - nouns
• AVE avenue ...1985 Amer. sl.
AVER - verbs
• VER † to aver, to declare ...c1400
AVERAGE - adjectives
• BOG STANDARD not containing any special features ...Aust. sl.
• BOG STOCK not containing any special features ...Aust. sl.
• FAIR TO MIDDLING 1. about average; slightly better than average; frequently used to understate a feeling of good health ...1865 Amer. dial.
2. below average ...1939 Amer. dial.
• MANNERLY somewhat above the average; good ...1854 Eng. dial.
• MIDDLE BROW middle-class; average or mediocre
• MIDDLESEX average, ordinary ...1908 Amer. dial.
average - nouns
• MIDDLING someone or something of only average quality ...1916 Amer. dial.
average - person
• COPPERTAIL the ordinary or average person; one belonging to the lower classes of society ...1890 Aust. sl.
• GEORGE SPELVIN a pseudonym used to hide the identity of an actor; also, a name given to a hypothetical average or ordinary man ...1908 chiefly US
• HACKER a run-of-the-mill, average person ...1973 US sl.
• HAM AND EGGER an average, inconsequential, or mediocre person; a person who is below par, a second-rate person; a stupid, incompetent, or inferior person; an oaf ...1919 US sl.
• JOE a fellow; a chap; an average man...M19
• JOE BLOGGS a hypothetical average man ...1969 Brit. colloq.
• JOE BLOW a hypothetical average man ...c1941 US colloq.
• JOE CITIZEN a hypothetical average person ...1932 colloq.
• JOE DOAKES, JOE DOKES a hypothetical average man ...1943 US colloq.
• JOE PUBLIC (often mildly derogatory) a typical male member of the general public ...1942 sl., orig. US theatrical
• JOE SCHMO a hypothetical average or ordinary person; a person of no distinction or importance ...1947 sl., orig. US
• JOE SIXPACK a hypothetical average working or blue-collar person, esp. a man ...1972 US sl.
• JOE SOAP a hypothetical average man ...1966 sl.
• JOHN DOE an ordinary or typical citizen
• MAN-IN-THE-CARS man-in-the-street; an average or ordinary person ...1888 US
• MIDDLING someone of only average quality ...1916 Amer. dial.
• MOKUS a working man; an 'average joe' ...1914 US sl.
• MOS a typical Man On the Street ...1997 US sl.
• NO GREAT SHAKES - an unimportant or average person ...c1850 Amer. sl.
AVERMENT - nouns
• VERMENT † averment; the act of proving, verification ...1472
AVERSE, AVERSION - adjectives
• ALLERGIC having a strong aversion to something or someone ...1935 Amer. jocular
• CROOKED ON annoyed, angry; hostile or averse to ...1942 Aust. & NZ sl.
• OFF having lost interest in; averse to ...1908 UK sl.
• OFFWARD † turned or directed off or away; averse ...1563
averse, aversion - nouns
• ADVERSENESS opposition, hostility; aversion ...1620
• AVERSATION a great dislike for or turning away from anything; abhorrence, hatred, aversion ...1613 arch.
• HEART-SCALD disagreeable sensation, disgust, aversion ...1629 Sc. & N. Eng. dial.
• OFFWARDNESS † the state of being turned away; averseness, aversion ...1600
averse, aversion - verbs
• AVERSATE †* to turn away from, to regard with aversion, to reject ...1725
averse, aversion - interjections
• BAW! an exclamation of disgust, aversion, or contempt ...1377
• UFF-DA! an expression of surprise, aversion, disgust, or pain ...1950 Amer. dial.
• YA! an exclamation of disgust, aversion, contempt, or malicious defiance ...1812
• YAH! an exclamation of disgust, aversion, contempt, derision, or malicious defiance ...1812
• YAR! an exclamation of disgust, aversion, or malicious defiance ...1812
AVERT - verbs
• FORFEND to avert, to keep away or off, to fend off, to prevent ...1382 arch.
AVIARY - nouns
• ORNITHON a place in which birds are kept; a poultry house; an aviary ...1870
• VOLLIERE †* a large bird cage; an aviary ...1638
AVIATION - adjectives
• ALTITUDE-HAPPY giddy from the effects of too much oxygen ...1955 Amer. aviation usage
• GROUND-POUNDING nonflying ...1945 Amer. military aviation usage
aviation - adverbs
• DOWNSTAIRS at or to a lower altitude; below ...1942 Amer. aviation usage
aviation - nouns
• AIRTORIAL an editorial on aviation ...World War II Amer. sl.
• ANGEL one thousand feet of altitude ...1943 Amer. Military Aviation usage
• ANGEL FACTORY an aviation plant employing females ...World War II Amer. sl.
• BAG in aviation: an observation balloon, blimp, dirigible, etc. ...1928 Amer. sl.
• CHINESE LANDING (usually offensive) a clumsy or disastrous landing made with one wing of an airplane angled acutely toward the ground ...1918 Amer. aviation sl.
• GROUND FLYING conversation about flying, usually indulged in by those who cannot or do not fly ...1919 Amer. aviation usage
• MAGELLAN an aircraft's navigator; hence, an automated navigational system ...c1952 Amer. aviation usage
• SAUSAGE BALLOON an observation balloon ...1916 sl.
• TEDDY BEAR a fur-lined high-altitude flying suit ...1917 sl.
aviation - person
• ACK-EMMA an air mechanic ...1917 Amer. military aviation usage
• GROUNDER a nonaviator ...1961 Amer. aviation usage
• GROUND-GRIPPER a nonaviator ...1944 military aviation usage
• GROUNDHOG a nonaviator, esp. a nonflying air force officer ...1918 Amer. aviation usage
• GROUND-POUNDER a person in military service who is not an aviator ...1945 Amer. military aviation usage
• GROUND SQUIRREL a nonaviator ...1918 Amer. aviation usage
• MODOCK a pilot given to boasting about flying experiences; one who talks about aviation but never flies ...1933 Amer. aviation sl.
aviation - verbs
• BEND THE THROTTLE to fly above normal cruising speed ...Bk1944 service sl.
AVIATOR - see PILOT
AVID - adjectives
• AVIDIOUS * avid, ardently desirous, extremely eager, greedy ...1534
AVOCADO - nouns
• AGUACOTE the alligator pear or avocado ...1897
• ALLIGATOR PEAR an avocado ...1696
AVOID - adjectives
• BAULKY anxious to avoid one, to get out of the way ...Bk1898 Eng. dial.
avoid - person
• NUT-DUCKER a person who stares at the ground to avoid acknowledging an acquaintance in the street ...Bk1999 Aust. sl.
avoid - verbs
• ABSONATE † to avoid, to detest (a law term) ...Bk1775
• ALIBI to hedge; to avoid an issue ...1967 Amer. dial.
• BALK † to pass by a place; to avoid in passing; to shun ...1484
• BAULK † to pass by a place; to avoid in passing; to shun ...1484
• BEAT to avoid to evade punishment or conviction ...1912 Amer. sl.
• BEAT ABOUT THE BUSH to avoid coming to the point; to delay talking about something difficult or unpleasant ...1520
• BEFLEE † to flee from, to flee, to avoid, to shun ...c1000
• BEFLY † to fly from, to shun, to avoid, to escape ...c1175
• DECLINE † to turn aside from to get or keep out of the way of; to avoid, to shun ...a1400-50
• DEVITE †* to shun, to avoid ...1549
• DODGE THE COLUMN to shirk one's duty or avoid work ...1919 sl., orig. services' usage
• DOG to shirk, to avoid a duty or responsibility ...1930 US sl.
• DOG IT to act lazily or half-heartedly; to shirk or avoid responsibility, risk, etc. ...1905 sl., orig. US
• DUCK to avoid someone or something ...1864 US sl.
• DUCK AND DIVE to avoid or evade, esp. with regard to legality or responsibility; to dodge work; to shirk; hence, to avoid regular employment but make living nevertheless ...1960 UK rhyming sl. for 'skive' (to avoid or evade)
• EVITATE †* to shun, to avoid, to escape ...1588
• FUNK to try to avoid or evade an undertaking, duty etc. ...1834
• FUNK IT to avoid an issue or an act through fear ...18C sl.
• FUNK OUT to back out of something, owing to a lack of courage or spirit; to try to avoid or evade an undertaking, duty etc. ...1859
• GET AWAY WITH THE BAGGAGE to escape detection in or to avoid the consequences of mischief or wrongdoing ...1873 Amer. sl. Hist
• GIVE ONE THE GO-BY to avoid, to disregard, to neglect ...1855 Amer. dial.
• GIVE SOMEONE THE RUN to deceive; to delay; to put off; to avoid; usually in order to give oneself some form of advantage, breathing space, etc....1910s orig. US
• GIVE SOMEONE THE RUNAROUND to deceive; to delay; to put off; to avoid; usually in order to give oneself some form of advantage, breathing space, etc....1910s orig. US
• GIVE THE GO-AROUND TO to avoid, to evade, to slight ...E20 chiefly US
• GO ROUND THE BUSH to avoid coming to the point; to delay talking about something difficult or unpleasant ...1705
• GYPPO to dodge an unpleasant responsibility; to shirk a duty; to avoid something ...1971 S. Afr. sl.. orig. military
• LAY OUT to avoid someone; to step aside ...1920s US Black sl.
• MAKE ONESELF SCARCE to stay away; to avoid ...colloq.
• MITHE † remain concealed; to escape notice; to avoid; to hide one's thoughts or feelings ...a900
• ODDS to avoid, to get out of ...1958 sl.
• PUNK OUT to lose one's nerve, to avoid doing something out of fear ...1920 US sl.
• SCOFF to dodge, to avoid doing ...1969 Sc.
• SCREED to shun, to eschew, to avoid ...1851 Eng. dial.
• SHOOT † to avoid, to escape ...1543 Sc.
• SHURN to avoid, to shun ...a1300-1400 obs. rare exc. Amer. dial.
• SQUIB to lose one's nerve, to avoid doing something out of fear ...1918 Aust. sl.
• TAKE OUTDOORS ON SOMEONE to leave alone, to avoid someone ...1930s sl.
• UMBECHEW † to avoid, to shun ...1456 Sc.
• UMBESCHEW † to avoid, to shun ...1456 Sc.
• WAIVE † to shun, to avoid; to elude, to escape, to dodge a blow ...1303
• WARE to beware of, to guard against; to avoid, to shun, to keep clear of ...a900 arch.
• WIMP OUT to lose one's nerve, to avoid doing something out of fear ...1981 sl., orig. US
• WORM OUT OF SOMETHING to evade or avoid an unpleasant situation ...1893 Amer. sl.
• WRIGGLE OUT (OF) to avoid or evade a responsibility or duty ...1848 sl.
AVOIDED - adjectives
• DEVITABLE † easy to be shunned, avoided, or escaped ...1727
AVOIDANCE, AVOIDING - nouns
• BEFLYING † shunning, avoiding ...1340
• DECLINING † avoidance ...1607
• GO-BY avoidance, disregard ...1855 Amer. dial.
• ABRAHAM † auburn; formerly written 'abern' and 'abron'; a corruption of 'auburn' ...1599
• ABRAHAM-COLOURED auburn ...1592 sl.
• ABRAM auburn ...1599 sl.
AUCTION - nouns
• CALAMITY old stuff, such as is bought at an auction ...Bk1913-17 Amer. dial.
• CANTING sale by auction ...1651 N. Eng. dial.
• KNOCK-EM-DOWN-BUSINESS auctioneering ...Aust.
• LYTH-COOP † an auction of household goods ...1681
• OUTCRY an auction ...1712
• SALE an auction ...1774 Amer. dial.
• SALE BILL a broadsheet advertising an auction ...1982 Amer. dial.
• SALE CRYING conducting an auction ...1944 Amer. dial.
• SUBHASTATION † a public sale by auction ...1600 obs. exc. hist.
• UNCTION an auction ...1896 Sc.
• VANDOO an auction ...1861 Amer. dial.
• VANDUE an auction ...1680 Amer. dial.
• VENDOO an auction ...1929 Amer. dial.
• VENDUE a public sale; an auction ...1686
auction - person
• ANGEL a greenhorn buyer at an auction who can be depended to buy unsound horses ...1964 Amer. sl.
• BABES the lowest order of ‘knock-outs,’ who are prevailed upon not to give opposing biddings at auctions, in consideration of their receiving a small sum (from one shilling to half-a-crown) and a certain quantity of beer ...Bk1860 sl.
• BACK-ROUPER the person who bids at a public sale merely to bring up the price ...1866 Sc.
• BARKER one who 'barks' at a cheap shop or show to entice people inside; an auction-room or shop tout ...1699
• BLACK-CAP a person who bids at an auction merely to raise the price ...Bk1898 Eng. dial.
• BONNET a person who bids for his own goods at a sale - one who is employed by the owner to bid for him ...Bk1911 Sc.
• BUTTON a sham buyer at an auction employed to bid and raise the price of articles ...1851 sl.
• BUTTONER * a person who bids at an auction in order to raise the price or to encourage others to bid; a dummy bidder ...1910 criminals' sl.
• BYBIDDER a person at an auction who bids with the object of raising the prices ...1848
• CAALER an auctioneer ...Bk1892 Eng. dial.
• CAPPER a dummy bidder whose function is either to start the bidding, or to run up the price of articles for sale ...1853 sl.
• CHAUNTER a hired bidder at a sale ...Bk1890 sl.
• CLERK OF THE ROUP one who notes the bids and buyers at an auction; an auctioneer's clerk ...1869 Sc.
• COLONEL an auctioneer ...Bk1913-17 Amer. dial.
• FUNK † a perpetrator of any of various ruses to raise prices or otherwise cheat buyers at an auction ...1842
• HAND-SELLER † an itinerant auctioneer who sells by 'Dutch auction' ...1851 Brit.
• HIGH BIDDER the person who holds the highest bid at any time during an auction; one who wins an auction with the highest final bid ...1695
• JAW-COVE an auctioneer ...1859 Amer. thieves' sl.
• MOCK AUCTIONEER the auctioneer at a mock auction (a fraudulent auction of worthless goods at which genuine bidding is encouraged either by pretend bids made by associates of the auctioneer, or by the offer of free gifts or other incentives) ...1780
• ODD-TRICK MAN a hanger-on at auctions ...19C sl.
• PUFF a mock bidder at auctions ...1785 sl.
• SALE-CALLER an auctioneer ...1944 Amer. dial.
• SALE-CRIER an auctioneer ...1881 Eng. dial.
• UNCTION BODY an auctioneer ...1933 Sc.
• UNCTIONEER an auctioneer ...1871 Sc.
• UNCTIONER † an auctioneer ...1830 Sc.
• VENDUE CRIER an auctioneer ...1778
• VENDUE-MASTER an auctioneer ...1710
• WANTER a person who goes to an auction intending to buy ...Bk1887 Eng. dial.
• WHITE BONNET † a fictitious bidder at an auction ...1760 Sc.
auction - verbs
• BACK-ROUP to bid at a public sale merely to raise the price ...1866 Sc.
• BRING TO THE HAMMER to sell by auction ...1828
• CAD to bid at a public auction ...Bk1898 Eng. dial.
• CALL A SALE to preside at an auction ...1944 Amer. dial.
• CANT to dispose of by auction ...1720 chiefly Irish
• CRY to offer for sale by auction or by hawking in the streets ...1393
• CRY OUT † to sell out by auction ...1701
• GO UNDER THE HAMMER to be sold by auction ...1828
• JOLLY to make a sham bid at an auction ...M19 sl.
• KNOCK DOWN to sell something to a bidder at an auction ...1760
• PUFF to bid on an item at an auction solely to increase the price that the final bidder must pay
AUDACIOUS - adjectives
• BARDACIOUS audacious, unceremonious ...1908 Amer. dial.
• BARDY forward, pert, shameless, audacious; insolent; defiant ...1822 Sc.
• BARE audacious; also, mean, base ...Bk1898 Eng. dial.
• BODACIOUS audacious, unceremonious ...1908 Amer. dial.
• BOLD AS BRASS, AS audacious ...1789
• CRUSTY audacious, nervy ...c1900 Amer. sl.
• DARING-HARDY † foolhardy, presumptuous, audacious ...1593
• DERF † in a bad sense: bold, audacious, daringly wicked ...a1400
• FACING † bold, audacious ...1566
• FLY wild, audacious, impertinent; brash ...1884 US sl.
• NERVY daring, audacious, pushing one's luck ...L19, orig. US
• OUDACIOUS audacious, bold ...1891 Amer. dial.
• OUTDACIOUS impudent, shameless, audacious, bold, incorrigible; of things: very bad, shocking ...1885 Eng. & Amer. dial.
• OWDACIOUS impudent, shameless, audacious, bold, incorrigible; of things: very bad, shocking ...1847 Eng. & Amer. dial.
audacious - person
• BELLOMY † a blustering or audacious man ...1535 Sc.
• HELLION a desperate, audacious person ...Bk1905 Eng. dial.
audacious - verbs
• TAKE THE CAKE to be so unusual as to be unbelievable; to be extremely audacious; to have unusual behaviour or characteristics ...c1890 US colloq.
AUDACITY - nouns
• BALLS effrontery; audacity ...1964 US sl.
• BRASH audacity, boldness, forwardness ...1966 Amer. dial.
• BRASS audacity, effrontery; courage; nerve; impudence ...1682
• BRASS NECK audacity, effrontery; courage; nerve; impudence ...1984 sl.
• CHEEK impudent talk; audacity; effrontery ...1840 sl.
• CHUTZBAH, CHUTZPA, CHUTZPAH impudence; audacity, effrontery ...1853 Yiddish
• CRUST gall, audacity, nerve ...c1900 Amer. sl.
• DAREDNESS boldness, audacity ...1874 Eng. dial.
• FACE audacity, impudence ...17C US sl.
• FACIAL AREA audacity, impudence ...17C US sl.
• GUTS cheek, audacity, nerve ...1910s sl.
• HARDIHEAD boldness, hardiness; audacity ...1579 arch.
• NECK audacity, effrontery ...1893 sl.
• NERVE audacity, effrontery, impudence, cheek ...1887
• ONCE A WEEK cheek, impudence, audacity ...20C rhyming sl.
• RABBIT audacity, cheek ...1940s sl.
• RIND audacity, effrontery ...1903 sl.
AUDIENCE - nouns
• SHOWCASE an audience many of whom were admitted on free tickets ...Bk1974 Amer. theatre use
audience - person
• JOE PUBLIC a member of an audience; an average member of the public
audience - verbs
• PAPER to boost an audience by giving out free passes to a show or entertainment ...L19 sl.
audience - phrases
• ONLY TWO MEN AND A DOG a description of a poor audience ...Bk1999 Aust. sl.
AUDIT - nouns
• APPOSAL † a searching question; inquiry, investigation, esp. legal examination of accounts ...LME
audit - verbs
• APPOSE † to examine accounts; to audit ...E17
• OPPOSE † to examine and check accounts; to audit ...c1483
AUDITION - nouns
• CATTLE CALL in theatre and film: a casting call; also, a mass audition ...1952 US sl.
AUDITOR - person
• OPPOSER † one who checks accounts, an auditor ...a1483
• RATIONAL †* in Roman Antiquity: an accountant or auditor ...1610
AUDITORIUM - nouns
• NOSEBLEEDS the highest seats in an auditorium or a stadium ...1978 US sl.
AUGMENT - verbs
• ADAUGE †* to add to, to augment, to increase by addition ...1657
• AMPLIFICATE † to amplify, to augment, to enlarge, to extend; to dwell long on a subject ...1731
• ECHE † to enlarge, to augment, to increase ...a1000
• YCHE † to augment, to increase ...1398
AUGUR - verbs
• HALSE † to augur; to divine; to soothsay ...c1050
• HALSEN † to augur, to foreshow by auspices, to prognosticate ...1586
• OMINATE † to prognosticate from omens; to augur, to forebode ...1582
AUGURY - nouns
• HANDSEL † lucky prognostic, omen, presage, augury; a token or omen of good luck ...c1200
• HANSEL † lucky prognostic, omen, presage, augury; a token or omen of good luck ...c1200
AUGUST - adjectives
• AUGUSTIOUS †* grand, magnificent, majestic, august ...a1670
AUNT, GREAT-AUNT - person
• AULD-AUNTIE - the aunt of one's father or mother ...Bk1898 Sc.
• AUNT EMMA - used as a personification of a matronly aunt ...1947 US sl.
• AUNT-IN-LAW the wife or female partner of one's uncle ...a1556
• BEE-BEE - an aunt ...Bk1890 gypsy usage
• FATHER-SISTER - † an aunt on the father's side ...1808 Sc.
• GARDEN - an aunt ...1992 UK rhyming sl. (Garden Plant)
• GARDEN PLANT - an aunt ...1992 UK rhyming sl.
• MOME - † an aunt; also, a title of or affectionate form of address to an old woman ...a1325
• MOTHER-SISTER - † a maternal aunt ...a1000
• MRS. CHANT - an aunt ...1930s rhyming sl.
• NAINT - an aunt ...Bk1879 Eng. dial.
• NANA - a grandmother - rarely, an aunt - also, used as a term of address ...1844
• NANNIE, NANNY a grandmother; rarely, a mother or aunt; also, a term of address ...1941 Amer. dial.
• NAUNT † aunt ...1621 obs. exc. Eng. dial. or arch.
• OLD AUNTIE - a great-aunt ...Bk1905 Sc.
• TANNIE - an aunt ...1958 S. Afr. colloq.
• TANTE - an aunt ...Bk1982 Jewish
• TUTU - an aunt ...1967 Hawaii
• UN - aunt; an address of familiar respect to an old woman, not implying relationship ...Bk1880 Eng. dial.
AURORA BOREALIS - nouns
• DANCERS the aurora borealis or northern lights ...c1717
• DERWENTER LIGHTS the Aurora Borealis ...1879 Eng. dial.
• FIRE-FLAUGHT the Northern Lights; Aurora Borealis ...1787
• MERRY-DANCE the Aurora Borealis ...1827 Sc.
• MERRY DANCERS the Aurora Borealis, the Northern Lights ... 1693 Sc. & Eng. dial.
• NIGHT RAINBOW the Northern Lights ...1954 Amer. dial.
• STREAMERS the Aurora Borealis, northern lights ...1805 sl.
AUSPICIOUS - adjectives
• OMINOUS † of good omen, auspicious; fortunate ...1597
• WHITE * propitious, favourable; auspicious, fortunate, happy ...1614 arch.
AUSTERE - adjectives
• AUSTERN austere ...Bk1898 Sc.
• EARTHLY rough, austere ...Bk1900 Eng. dial.
• GARGRUGOUS † austere both in aspect and in manners, at the same time inspiring something approaching to terror, from the size of the person ...1825 Sc.
• RAMSTOUGAR † austere ...Bk1905 Sc.
• RAMSTOUGEROUS † austere ...Bk1905 Sc.
• RAMSTUGIOUS † austere ...Bk1905 Sc.
• TETRICOUS † sour in countenance; austere, severe, harsh, crabbed, perverse, morose ...1727
austere - person
• GRIMSIR † an austere, stern, morose, or overbearing person; a grim old man; a haughty or arrogant person in office ...c1450 obs. exc. Eng. dial.
AUSTERITY - nouns
• RIGOROSITY † austerity, rigour, extreme strictness ...c1531
AUSTRALIA - adjectives
• ABO Australian Aborginal; pert. to Australian Aboriginals ...1911 Aust. sl.
• AUSSIE Australian ...1917 sl.
• AUSTRAL pert. to Australia ...1823
• AUSTRALIAN AS A MEAT PIE typically or authentically Australian ...1981 Aust. sl.
• CREAMY quarter-caste Australian Aboriginal ...1912 Aust. sl.
• OCKER 1. characteristic of an ocker ...1972 Aust. sl.
2. distinctively Australian ...1972 Aust. sl.
• OZ Australian ...1971 sl., orig. Aust.
• OZZIE Australian ...1918 sl., orig. Aust.
• VANDEMONIAN belonging to or inhabiting Tasmania ...1840
Australia - nouns
• ABORTION EXPRESS a train that ran from Darwin to Birdum ...1940 Aust. sl.
• ACROSS THE DITCH Australia ...1998 NZ sl.
• AERIAL PING-PONG a jocular (frequently derisive) name for Australian National Football ...1964 Aust.
• ALBANY DOCTOR a refreshing cool breeze in southern Western Australia ...Bk1999 Aust. sl.
• ALICE Alice Springs; in early use, was preceded by 'the' ...1901 Aust. sl.
• ALLIGATORLAND Queensland ...L19 Aust. sl.
• APPLE ISLAND, THE Tasmania ...1906 Aust. colloq.
• APPLE ISLE, THE Tasmania ...1906 Aust. colloq.
• AUSSIE 1. Australia ...1915 Aust. sl.
2. Australian English ...1945 Aust. sl.
• AUSSIELAND Australia ...1920 Aust.
• AUSTRALIAN Australian English ...1902 Aust.
• BACK BLOCK the country outside the margin of the settled districts ...Bk1892 Aust. sl.
• BANANALAND Queensland ...1898 Aust. colloq.
• BANGTAIL MUSTER a roundup of cattle to be counted, each one having the hairs on its tail docked as it is counted ...Aust. hist.
• BARCOO BUSTER a westerly wind in outback Queensland ...Bk1999 Aust. sl.
• BARCOO SALUTE a gesture with which one brushes flies from one's face, considered to be typical of Australians ...1973 Aust. sl.
• BAZZALAND Australia ...Bk1999 Aust. sl.
• BIG A Australia ...1987 US sl.
• BLUEY a bushman's bundle, the outside wrapper of which is generally a blue blanket ...1891 Aust. sl.
• BRISSO an abbreviation of Brisbane ...Aust. sl.
• BUNYIP ARISTOCRACY Australia's 'landed gentry' ...Bk1999 Aust. sl.
• CABBAGE GARDEN the state of Victoria, Australia ...1882 Aust. sl.
• CABBAGE GARDEN PATCH the state of Victoria, Australia ...20C Aust. sl.
• CABBAGE-PATCH the state of Victoria, Australia ...1882 Aust. sl.
• CABBAGE STATE the state of Victoria, Australia ...1882 Aust. sl.
• CAMP, THE 1. Sydney ...L18 Aust.
2. Hobart ...M19 Aust.
• COATHANGER the Sydney Harbour Bridge ...1943 Aust. sl.
• DANDIES, THE the Dandenong Ranges outside Melbourne ...1981 Aust. sl.
• DANDY in South Australia: a small container for ice cream ...1954 Aust. sl.
• DARLING IT HURTS Darlinghurst, a rough inner-city area of Sydney ...20C Aust. sl.
• DARLINGS, THE the prostitutes of Darlinghurst and King's Cross, Sydney ... c1930 Aust. sl.
• DARLO Darlinghurst. Sydney ...c1920 Aust. sl.
• DEAD HEART the arid inland regions of Australia ...1906 Aust. sl.
• DEAD HOUSE a room in an outback public house set aside for those who are incapably drunk ...M19 Aust. sl.
• DOMAIN COCKTAIL a lethal concoction of petrol and pepper which reputedly once had a vogue amongst deadbeat drinkers in the Sydney Domain ...L19 Aust. sl.
• DONGA, DONGER the bush; the outback ...Bk1999 Aust. sl.
• FLY SPECK, THE Tasmania ...20C Aust.
• FREMANTLE DOCTOR a refreshing sea breeze that blows into Fremantle and Perth after a hot spell ...Bk1999 Aust. sl.
• G.A.B.A. the outback (Great Australian Bugger All) ...1980s Aust. sl.
• GALAH SESSION an interval set aside regularly on the Flying Doctor radio network for anyone who wishes to exchange news and gossip rather than make emergency calls ...1950s Aust. sl.
• GHAN, THE a train that runs between Adelaide and Alice Springs ...M20 Aust. sl.
• KANAKALAND Queensland ...L19 Aust. sl.
• KANGAROOLAND Australia ...1900s Aust. sl.
• 'KANGAROOS West Australian mining shares; also, a dealer in these ...1896 Aust. Stock Exchange usage
• KENSO Kensington racecourse, Sydney ...20C Aust. sporting usage
• LEAPING LENA a train that ran from Darwin to Birdum ...1940 Aust. sl.
• LEGITIMACY † the state of immigrating to Australia as a convict ...1827 Aust. sl.
• LUCKY COUNTRY a jocular name for Australia ...Aust. sl.
• MARVELLOUS MELBOURNE Melbourne, Australia's second biggest city ...1885 Aust.
• MA STATE, THE New South Wales ...L19 Aust. colloq.
• MULGA an uninhabited, sparsely populated or inhospitable region ...L19 Aust.
• MULGA MADNESS temporary eccentricity or insanity due to living alone in the outback ...1905 Aust. sl.
• MULGA SCRUBBER a livestock animal that has run wild and deteriorated in condition ...1897 Aust. sl.
• MULGA WIRE a 'bush telegraph', the 'grapevine' ...L19 Aust.
• NEVER NEVER in Australia, the unpopulated northern part of Queensland; the desert country of the interior; remote Australia ...1833 Aust.
• OCEAN HELL the penal establishment sited on Norfolk Island for particularly recalcitrant convicts ...M19 Aust. sl.
• OCKER Australian English ...1979 Aust. sl.
• OCKERDOM the society of boorish, uncouth, chauvinistic Australians ...1974 Aust. sl.
• OCKERISM boorish behaviour, self-satisfaction ...1970s Aust. sl.
• OZ Australia ...1908 sl.
• PADDO the suburb of Paddington, Sydney ...1940s Aust. sl.
• QUEENIE Queensland, Australia ...1994 Aust. sl.
• RASPBERRY-LAND Tasmania ...20C Aust. sl.
• SADDLING PADDOCK the bar of the Theatre Royal, Melbourne, generally accepted as a place to pick up prostitutes ...M19 Aust. sl.
• SAND-GROPER LAND Western Australia ...L19 Aust. sl.
• SHOP, THE the University of Melbourne ...1889 Aust. sl.
• SKED in remote country regions: a schedule for a radio call ...1946 Aust. sl.
• STEAK AND KIDNEY Sydney ...1905 Aust. rhyming sl.
• STRINE Australian English ...1964 Aust. colloq.
• THREE Bs Bum, Bash, and Bury, what should be done with rubbish that accumulates in the outback ...1920s Aust. sl.
• TINSEL TOWN Sydney ...1980s Aust. sl.
• TOP END the Northern Territory ...Bk1999 Aust. sl.
• VASELINE VALLEY a stretch of Oxford Street, Sydney, acknowledged as the city's gay centre ...1980s Aust. sl.
• VIC Victoria, a southern state of Australia ...1902 Aust. sl.
• WALER a horse imported from Australia, esp. from New South Wales ...1849 Anglo-Indian
• WALLABY TRACK the route followed by an itinerant moving from station to station in search of work ...M19 Aust. sl.
• WESTRALIA Western Australia ...L19 Aust. sl.
Australia - person
• AB an Aboriginal ...c1870 Aust.
• ABC an Australian-born Chinese ...1990s Aust. sl.
• ABO 1. (now mainly derogatory) an Australian Aboriginal ...1908 Aust. sl.
2. an expert on Aborigine and bush customs and folktales ...1910s Aust. sl.
• ABOLIAR an expert on Aborigine bush customs and folktales ...1904 Aust. sl.
• ADELAIDEAN a native or inhabitant of the city of Adelaide ...1839
• ALF (derogatory) an ordinary, uneducated, unsophisticated Australian male ...1960 Aust. sl.
• APPLE ISLANDER an inhabitant of Tasmania ...1928 Aust. colloq.
• AUSSIE an Australian; originally, an Australian soldier in World War I ...1915
• AUSSIE BATTLER the ordinary Australian trying to make ends meet ...1886 Aust. sl.
• AUSSIELANDER an Australian ...1941 Aust.
• AUSTRALIENNE a non-Aboriginal Australian woman ...1895 Aust.
• BACK BLOCKER an inhabitant of regions remote from settled areas ...1870 Aust. sl.
• BAD NIGGER an Aborigine who refuses to cooperate with the authorities ...1910 Aust. sl.
• BALANDER an Aboriginal name for a White man ...1847 Aust. sl.
• BALT (derogatory) an immigrant to Australia from the Baltic countries, and Poland and Holland, after World War II ...1949 Aust. sl.
• BALTIE (derogatory) an immigrant to Australia from the Baltic countries, and Poland and Holland, after World War II ...1953 Aust. sl.
• BANANA BENDER a Queenslander ...1952 Aust. sl.
• BANANA BOY a native or resident of Queensland ...1890 Aust. sl.
• BANANA-EATER an inhabitant of Queensland, Australia ...1955 Aust. sl.
• BANANALANDER someone from Queensland ...1887 Aust. jocular
• BANANA MAN an inhabitant of Queensland ...1868 Aust. sl.
• BARCOO BILL a bushman ...1910 Aust. sl.
• BARRACOOTA an inhabitant of Hobart, Tasmania ...1898 Aust. sl.
• BASKETWEAVER FROM BALMAIN a trendy, basically middle-class, upwardly mobile, socially conscious, left-wing member of the Australian Labour Party, and one who has no intention of manning the barricades for any cause whatsoever ...Bk1986 Aust. sl.
• BATTLER a swagman ...1900 Aust.
• BAZZ an average, knockabout, sub-literate Australian male ...Bk1986 Aust. sl.
• BAZZA an average, knockabout, sub-literate Australian male, a fool ...Bk1986 Aust. sl.
• BIDGEE WHALER an itinerant tramp whose 'beat' focuses on the rivers of New South Wales ...M19 Aust. sl.
• BIG MAN a powerfully built Australian Rules footballer, often playing in a special position, e.g. ruckman; any Australian Rules player ...1963 Aust. sl.
• BILJIM the typical Australian male; the typical Australian soldier in WWI ...1898 Aust. sl.
• BILL a generic term for an Australian soldier ...1900 Aust. sl.
• BILL AND JIM 1. † typical outback Australians in the 1890s ...1896 Aust. sl.
2. † typical Australian soldiers in World War I ...1919 Aust. sl.
• BILLJIM the typical Australian male; an Australian soldier ...1898 Aust. sl.
• BILLY any Aboriginal singled out from the rest ...1905 Aust sl.
• BILLY BARLOW an inexperienced immigrant who meets with misadventures in the colony ...1843 Aust. sl.
• BINE an English immigrant ...1999 Aust. sl.
• BINGHI (derogatory) a White term for an Aboriginal ...1893 Aust. sl.
• BINGY an Australian Aboriginal ...1933 Aust. sl.
• BITUMEN BLONDE (derogatory) an Aboriginal girl or woman ...1943 Aust. sl.
• BLACK a man of 'black' skin; a member of a dark-skinned race, esp. a person of sub-Saharan African origin or descent; also, a person of Australian Aboriginal origin or descent ...1614
• BLACK AUSTRALIAN a native or inhabitant of Australia who is Black; an Australian Aboriginal ...1863
• BLACKBIRD an Aborigine ...1865 Aust. sl.
• BLACKBOY 1. * (offensive) an Australian Aboriginal man ...1810
2. (offensive) an Aboriginal guide accompanying explorers ...1893
• BLACKBOYS aboriginal servants in Australia ...Bk1892 Aust. sl.
• BLACKBUTT a native Australian ...1910 Aust. sl.
• BLACKFELLA, BLACKFELLER an Aborigine; a dark-skinned person ...Bk1988 Aust. sl.
• BLACKFELLOW (now usually offensive) an Australian aboriginal ...1827
• BLACK HAT a newly-arrived immigrant ...1887 Aust. sl.
• BLACK MAN a dark-skinned man, esp. a man of sub-Saharan African or Australian Aboriginal origin or descent ...a1398
• BLACK TRACKER an Australian Aboriginal employed by police to track down fugitives or persons lost in the bush ...1862 Aust.
• BLACK VELVET (offensive) a Black, Aboriginal, or Maori woman, esp. as the focus of a White man's sexual interest ...1899 Aust. & NZ sl.
• BODGIE a member of a male subculture of the 1950s, similar to Britain's teddy-boys, identifiable by a flashy style of dress ...1952 Aust. sl.
• BOONG (derogatory) an Australian Aboriginal ...1924 Aust. sl.
• BOUNDARY-RIDER one who rides around the fences of a station, and repairs them when broken ...1865 Aust.
• BRISSO a person lives in Brisbane ...Aust. sl.
• BUNJI a White man, often old, and impoverished, who pursues Aboriginal women for sex ...1970s Aust. sl.
• CABBAGE a native or inhabitant of Victoria, Australia ...L19 Aust. sl.
• CABBAGE GARDENER a native of Victoria, Australia ...1882 Aust. sl.
• CABBAGE PATCHER a native of Victoria, Australia ...1882 Aust. sl.
• CABBAGE STATER a native of Victoria, Australia ...1882 Aust. sl.
• CABBAGE TREE MOB an unruly set of young fellows, dressed in a suit of fustian or colonial tweed, and the emblem of their order, the low-crowned cabbage-palm hat - the main object of their enmity seems to be the ordinary black headpiece worn by respectable persons, which is ruthlessly knocked over the eyes of the wearer as he passes or enters the theatre ...1852 Aust. sl.
• CABBAGITES a class of layabouts or roughs, typified by the wearing of a 'cabbage-tree hat' (a hat made from the dried leaves of the cabbage-palm - they were esteemed as a protection from the sun, and allowed free ventilation) ...c1850 Aust. sl.
• CARPET BUSHMAN a businessman who owns land in the outback but rarely visits ...1910s Aust. sl.
• CHOCOLATE SOLDIER (derogatory) a member of an Australian militia during World War II who did not serve in a theatre of war ...1943 Aust. sl.
• COLLINS STREET SQUATTER a man, usually a youth, who frequents bars, cafes, etc. for no other reason that meeting his friends, gossiping and wasting time ...1960s Aust. (Melbourne) sl.
• COMBO a White man who lives with an Aboriginal woman ...1896 Aust. sl.
• COMBOMAN a White man who lives with an Aboriginal woman ...1896 Aust. sl.
• CORNSTALK orig. a native-born, non-aboriginal Australian - later, a person from New South Wales ...1827 Aust. sl.
• COVE a master or overseer of an Australian station ...Bk1892 Aust. sl.
• CREAMY a person of mixed European and Australian Aboriginal heritage ...1912 Aust. sl.
• CROW-EATER a South Australian ...1902 Aust. colloq.
• CURRENCY persons born in Australia ...Bk1892 Aust. sl.
• DARK CLOUD (derogatory) an Australian aboriginal ...1945 Aust. sl.
• DARKEE, DARKEY, DARKIE, DARKY (now derogatory or offensive) an Australian aborigine; any person having very dark skin as a racial trait ...1775 sl.
• DARKMAN (derogatory) an Aborigine ...1970s Aust. sl.
• DARLING WHALER an itinerant tramp whose 'beat' focuses on the rivers of New South Wales ...M19 Aust. sl.
• DIG a digger ...1916 Aust. & NZ sl.
• DIGGER an Australian; an Australian or NZ soldier in World Wars I and II, esp. a private ...1916 sl.
• DINGO an Australian ...2002 NZ sl.
• DINKUM an Australian or New Zealand soldier in the First World War; an Anzac; generally, an Australian or New Zealander ...1916
• DINKUM AUSSIE a person who embodies all those things seen as characteristically Australian ...1920 Aust. sl.
• DOMAIN DOSSER a loafer or down-and-out who frequents the Sydney Domain ...Aust. sl.
• DUNGAREE SETTLER a poor settler, or one of low social status ...1826 Aust. colloq.
• EGGS-A-COOK Australian soldiers ...1915 Aust. military sl.
• EMU-BOBBER a man employed to pick up the remnants after clearing or burning off in the bush ...1920s Aust. sl.
• FORTY a fraudulent gambler - orig. applied to the members of a Sydney gang ...1876 Aust. sl.
• GEEBUNG 1. an unsophisticated, uncultured, philistine native-born Australian, who values material gain above everything else ...1864 Aust. sl.
2. an old settler in New South Wales ...1874 Aust.
• GEORGE STREET BACKBLOCKER a business man who owns land in the outback but rarely if ever visits ...1912 Aust. sl.
• GHAN an Afghan or Muslim immigrant to Australia, esp. one who drives or breeds camels ...1907 Aust. sl.
• GIN 1. (now considered offensive) an Australian Aboriginal woman or wife ...1790 Aust.
2. any woman or wife; also, an old woman ...c1880 Aust.
• GIN-BANGER a White man who enjoys sexual relations with Aborigine women ...1912 Aust. sl.
• GIN-BOY a White man who enjoys sexual relations with Aborigine women ...1892 Aust. sl.
• GIN BURGLAR a White man who enjoys sexual relations with an Aboriginal woman ...1947 Aust.
• GIN CUDDLER a White man who has casual sexual relations with Aboriginal women ...1954 Aust. sl.
• GIN DOZZLER a White man who has casual sexual relations with Aboriginal women ...1977 Aust. sl.
• GIN JOCKEY a White man who has casual sexual relations with Aboriginal women ...1955 Aust. sl.
• GIN MAN a White man who has casual sexual relations with Aboriginal women ...1963 Aust. sl.
• GIN MASHER a White man who has casual sexual relations with Aboriginal women ...1902 Aust. sl.
• GINNY (now considered offensive) an Australian Aboriginal woman or wife ...1901 Aust.
• GIN SHEPHERD 1. (derogatory) a person who seeks to protect Aboriginal women from White men ...1947 Aust. sl.
2. a White man who has casual sexual relations with Aboriginal women ...1958 Aust. sl.
• GIN SHEPHERDER a White man who has casual sexual relations with Aboriginal women ...1926 Aust. sl.
• GIN STEALER a White man who has casual sexual relations with Aboriginal women ...1925 Aust. sl.
• GROPER a Western Australian, esp. a (descendant of an) early settler ...1899 Aust. sl.
• GUM-SUCKER a native Australian, esp. a Victorian or Tasmanian ...1855 Aust.
• GUTTA-PERCHA an inhabitant of the state of Victoria ...L19 Aust. sl.
• HALF-ABO (offensive) a person having one Australian Aboriginal parent ...1945 Aust.
• HALF-FORWARD in Australian Rules Football: a player occupying a half-forward position, which comes between the centre and full-forward positions ...1968
• HALF-FORWARD FLANKER in Australian Rules Football: a half-forward in the side position ...1963
• HANDBAG a male not taking a proper manly role, esp. an Australian Rules player ...1985 Aust. sl.
• HELL TERRORS Australians; so called by the Germans ...Amer. World War I sl.
• ILLEGITIMATE a free (non-convict) Australian settler ...19C Aust. sl.
• INLANDER an inhabitant of the sparsely settled interior of Australia ...1911 Aust. sl.
• JACKAROO, JACKEROO 1. a White man living beyond the bounds of 'civilization' ...M19
2. an apprentice station hand working on, and learning how to manage, a cattle or sheep station ...1845 Aust. sl.
3. a man newly arrived from England to gain experience in the bush; an inexperienced young colonist ...1880 Aust. colloq.
• JACKERY a popular or favoured station-hand; usually in plural ...1890 Aust. sl.
• JACKEY, JACKIE, JACKY (offensive) a generic name for the Australian Aboriginal ...1845 Aust. sl.
• JACKY-JACKY (derogatory) (a nickname for) an Australian Aboriginal ...1845 Aust. sl.
• JEW CHUM 'new chum'; a newcomer to Australia; a Jewish newcomer ...20C Aust. rhyming sl.
• KANACKA, KANAKA, KANAKER a native of the Pacific Islands, esp. one employed in Queensland as a labourer on the sugar plantations ...1840
• KANAKALANDER a Queenslander ...L19 Aust. sl.
• KANGAROO 1. a native of Australia ...1888 humorous
2. a dealer in West Australian mining shares ...1896 Aust. Stock Exchange usage
• KANGO an Australian ...1940s sl.
• LEGITIMATE a settler who arrived in Australia as a transported convict ...1827 Aust. sl.
• MAGPIE 1. a nickname for a South Australian ...1910s Aust. sl.
2. a half-caste ...1980s Aust. sl.
• MAINLANDER one who lives on the mainland of Australia, rather then Tasmania ...1940s Aust. sl.
• MARY an Aboriginal woman or other non-white woman ...1830 Aust. sl.
• MERINO a person who has chosen to settle in Australia, as opposed to a convict or ex-convict; hence, a member of a leading family in Australian society; a person of fine breeding or good character ...1934 Aust. & NZ colloq.
• MERRY ANZACS casual Australians ...Bk1919 Aust. services sl.
• MEXICAN in eastern Australia, a person from a state south of one's own; in Queensland it refers to either New South Wales inhabitants or Victorians - in New South Wales it refers to Victorians ...1991 Aust. sl.
• MOLESKIN SQUATTER * a working man who has scraped up enough cash to buy a small sheep run ...1941 Aust. & NZ sl.
• MONKEY-DODGER a sheep-station hand ...1899 Aust. sl.
• MOUNTAIN DEVIL a native of Tasmania ...1876 Aust. sl.
• MULGA BILL a bushman ...L19 Aust.
• MURRAY WHALER an itinerant tramp whose 'beat' focuses on the rivers of New South Wales ...M19 Aust. sl.
• MURRUMBIDGEE WHALER an itinerant tramp whose 'beat' focuses on the rivers of New South Wales ...M19 Aust. sl.
• MUTTON BIRD (humorous or derogatory) a Tasmanian; esp. a non-Aboriginal inhabitant of northern Tasmania ...1892 Aust. sl.
• MUTTON-BIRD EATER (humorous or derogatory) a Tasmanian; esp. a non-Aboriginal inhabitant of northern Tasmania ...1941 Aust. sl.
• MUTTON-EATER a native of northern Tasmania ...20C Aust. sl.
• NAUSIE, NAUSSIE a New Australian, esp. a recent migrant from Europe ...1959 Aust. sl.
• NEVERSWEAT a council worker ...1970s Aust. sl.
• NEWSTRALIAN a New Australian, i.e. any immigrant, usually from continental Europe, whose first language is not English ...1950s Aust. sl.
• NOGGY (derogatory or offensive) an Asian immigrant to Australia ...1954 Aust. sl.
• OCK a boorish, loutish, unsophisticated, ultra-nationalistic Australian ...1970s Aust. sl.
• OCKER orig. a nickname for an Australian man - later, a typically rough or aggressively boorish Australian ...1916 Aust. sl.
• OCKERINA a female Australian who is boorish, loutish, unsophisticated ...1970s Aust. sl.
• OLD CHUM an experienced colonist; one who had spent some years in the colony, esp. in the outback ...Aust. hist. sl.
• OZ an Australian ...1971 sl., orig. Aust.
• OZZIE an Australian ...1918 sl.
• PARCEL POST used in the Northern Territory to describe a person who is newly arrived and thus inexperienced ...1930s Aust. sl.
• PARRA 1. an inhabitant of the western suburbs of Sydney ...1950s Aust. sl.
2. (derogatory) in Sydney region: a visiting non-resident of a beachside area ...1985 Aust. sl.
• PIE-EATER (derogatory) a resident of South Australia ...1980 Aust. sl.
• POON a lonely, crazy inhabitant of the outback ...1941 Aust. sl.
• PURE MERINO a person who has chosen to settle in Australia, as opposed to a convict or ex-convict; hence, a member of a leading family in Australian society; a person of fine breeding or good character ...1826 Aust. & NZ colloq.
• QUEEN STREET BUSHIE in Queensland: a city person with pretenses to country living, such as dressing like a cowboy or driving a 4WD ...2003 Aust. sl.
• QUEEN STREET COWBOY in Queensland: a city person with pretenses to country living, such as dressing like a cowboy or driving a 4WD ...2003 Aust. sl.
• QUEEN STREET RINGER in Queensland: a city person with pretenses to country living, such as dressing like a cowboy or driving a 4WD ...2003 Aust. sl.
• RABBIT a native-born Australian - 1907 Aust. sl.
• RANGER a bushranger ...L19 Aust. sl.
• RASPBERRY-LANDERS Tasmanians ...20C Aust. sl.
• RUGGER BUGGER a macho footballer ...1966 Aust. sl.
• SAND-GROPER a non-Aboriginal person, native to or resident in Western Australia ...1896 Aust. sl.
• SCRUB-TURKEY an itinerant who moves around the Australian bush; his long absence from urban life may have rendered him slightly eccentric ...1950s Aust. sl.
• SKIP an Anglo-Australian ...1987 Aust.
• SKIPPY a term for an English-, Irish-, or Scottish-descent Australian ...Bk1999 Aust. sl.
• STERLING a colonist born in England; natives of England ...Bk1892 Aust. sl.
• SUNDOWNER a tramp who makes a practice of arriving at a station about sundown under the pretense of seeking work, so as to obtain food and a night's lodging ...1875 Aust. colloq.
• TARPOT (derogatory) an Aborigine ...1894 Aust. sl.
• TASSEY, TASSIE, TASSY a Tasmanian ...1899 Aust. sl.
• TASSIE TIGER a Tasmanian ...Bk1999 Aust. sl.
• TOP ENDER a person from the Top End, the northern parts of the Northern Territory ...1941 Aust. sl.
• TOTHERSIDER a person from the eastern states of Australia ...c1872 Aust. sl.
• UGLY AUSTRALIAN a rough, loutish Australian; an Australian yobbo ...1974 Aust. sl.
• UNBLEACHED AUSTRALIAN a Native Australian; an Aboriginal ...L19 sl.
• UPTOPPER an inhabitant of northern Australia ...1950s Aust. sl.
• VANDEMONIAN an ex-convict from Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania) ...1855 Aust. sl.
• VAN DIEMONIAN an inhabitant of Tasmania ...1852
• WADGELLA a White man ...1927 Aust. pidgin version of 'whitefellow'
• WALER a native of New South Wales ...1885 Aust. sl.
• WALTZING MATILDA an Australian soldier ...World War I Amer. sl.
• WESTIE a person who lives in the western suburbs of Sydney ...1980s Aust. sl.
• WESTRALIAN a Western Australian ...L19 Aust. sl.
• WHALER an itinerant tramp whose 'beat' focuses on the rivers of New South Wales ...M19 Aust. sl.
• WHITE LEGHORN in Australian Rules football: an umpire ...Bk1988 Aust. sl.
• WONGI a native of the Kalgoorlie region ...1950 Aust. sl.
• WONK a non-Aboriginal Australian; used contemptuously or dismissively ...1938 Aust. sl.
• WOOLLOOMOOLOO YANK a World War II term for a local youth affecting American airs or assuming an American accent ...Bk1999 Aust. sl.
• YALLER GAL a mixed-race, a half-white, half-Black or Aborigine woman ...1834 Aust. & US sl.
• YAMIDGEE, YAMMIDGEE an Aboriginal, esp. an Aboriginal male ...1925 Aust. sl.
• YAMMAGI an Aboriginal, esp. an Aboriginal male ...1925 Aust. sl.
• YARRA BANKER an idler; a loafer found on the banks of Melbourne's Yarra River ...1895 Aust. sl.
• YARRA BENDER an idler, a loafer found on the banks of Melbourne's Yarra River ...1885 Aust. sl.
• YARRASIDER an inhabitant of Victoria ...1949 Aust. sl.
• YELLER FELLA a male half-caste ...1937 Aust. sl.
• YELLER FELLER a mixed-race, half-white, half-Aborigine man ...1913 Aust. sl.
• YELLOW AND BLACK an Aboriginal ...1885 Aust. sl.
• YELLOW FELLER a person of mixed Aboriginal and White parentage ...1913 Aust. sl.
• YELLOW FELLOW a mixed-race, half-white, half-Aborigine man ...1834 Aust. & US sl.
• YELLOW GIRL a light-skinned Black woman, esp. if sexually attractive; a mixed-race, a half-white, half-Black or Aborigine woman; a female mulatto ...1832 sl.
• YELLOW TAIL a person from New South Wales ...1978 Aust. sl.
Australia - verbs
• GO ON THE WALLABY TRACK to go on foot, up-country, in search of work ...Bk1892 Aust. sl.
• GO WALKABOUT of an Aboriginal: to go on a walkabout ...1927 Aust.
• RABBIT in Australian football: 'to collar a player by the ankles when his running with the ball' ...20C Aust. sporting usage
Australia - phrases
• IF IT MOVES SHOOT IT, IF IT DOESN'T CHOP IT DOWN said to be Australia's national creed ...Bk1999 Aust. sl.
• ON THE BOIL in football: running at full speed ...Aust. sl.
AUTHENTIC - adjectives
• ALL WOOL AND A YARD WIDE totally trustworthy; authentic; thoroughly honourable ...1882
• ALL WOOL, A YARD LONG AND A YARD WIDE totally trustworthy; authentic; thoroughly honourable ...1913
• DINKY-DIE genuine, authentic, honest, straightforward ...E20 Aust. & NZ sl.
• FAIR DINK genuine, authentic, honest, straightforward ...E20 Aust. & NZ colloq.
• FAIR DINKUM genuine, authentic, honest, straightforward ...L19 Aust. & NZ colloq.
• PUKKA certain, reliable; authentic, true; proper, socially acceptable ...L18
• SIMON-PURE real, genuine, authentic ...1889
• SQUARE DINKUM genuine, authentic, honest, straightforward ...L19 Aust. & NZ colloq.
• STRAIGHT DINKUM genuine, authentic, honest, straightforward ...L19 Aust. & NZ colloq.
authentic - nouns
• GENUINE ARTICLE, THE a person or thing held to be an authentic or excellent example of a particular type ...1794
• REAL SIMON PURE, THE the real, genuine, or authentic person or thing ...a1832
• SIMON PURE, THE the real, genuine, or authentic person or thing ...1815
authentic - person
• GENUINE ARTICLE, THE a person or thing held to be an authentic or excellent example of a particular type ...1794
AUTHENICATE - verbs
• QUALIFY † to prove; to authenticate, to make good; to testify to ...1746 Sc. & N. Eng. dial.
AUTHOR - adjectives
• AUCTORIAL pert. to an author ...1821
• FATHERLESS † of a book, etc.: without a known author; anonymous ...1611
• ONYMOUS * having or bearing a name; of a writing: bearing the name of the author; of an author: that gives his name; the opposite of 'anonymous' ...1775
author - person
• ARTHUR author ...1915 Amer. dial.
• AUTHORLING a petty author; an insignificant writer ...1771
• BOOKER - † a writer of books ...OE
• BOOKMAN - an author or publisher - a literary man
• CACKLE-MERCHANT - † a dramatic author; the author of a play ...c1860 theatrical usage
• FACTOR - † one who makes or does anything - a doer, maker, performer, or perpetrator - an author of a literary work ...1563 obs. or arch.
• GARRETEER - one who lives in a garret; esp. an impecunious author or literary hack ...1653
• HEDGE-WRITER - † a Grub-street writer or low author; a mean or poor author or writer ...Bk1895
• HERO OF THE QUILL - a distinguished author ...1823 sl.
• INK-SLINGER - a journalist or author ...1888 sl.
• INKSPILLER - a journalist or author ...1892 sl.
• INK-WASTER - a journalist or author ...1894 sl.
• KNIGHT OF THE QUILL - an author - a writer - a journalist ...L17 colloq.
• NEOTERIC - a modern - a modern writer or author ...1598
• ORTHOR - author ...1863 Amer. dial.
• PAPER-STAINER - used humorously for an inferior author or clerk - an author of small repute ...1596 humorous
• QUILL-DRIVER - one who works with a quill or pen - a clerk or author - chiefly used contemptuously ...1760
• SAYAR - a narrator or author; a poetical writer; a poet ...c1460 Sc.
• WRITERLING a petty writer or journalist; an author of the baser sort ...Bk1881
• WRITRIX - † a female writer - an authoress ...1772 nonce word
author - verbs
• BETRAVAIL † to work at; to compose a book, to be the author of, to write ...1387
• GRUB-STAKE to give an author money to keep him going while he writes a book...c1920 publishers' colloq.
AUTHORITARIAN - verbs
• BOSS AROUND to direct or control someone in an offensively authoritarian way ...1850s Amer. sl.
AUTHORITATIVE, AUTHORITY - adjectives
• EYELESS † having no fear of authority; lacking reverence or respect for authority y...c1175
• MAGISTERIAL 1. assuming authority; dictatorial ...1632
2. pert. to a master or teacher, or one qualified to speak with authority ...1632
• MAGISTERIOUS exercising the authority of a master ...17C obs.
• MAGISTRAL * pert. to or befitting a master; authoritative, dogmatic ...1605
• MASTERLIKE † resembling a master; despotic, autocratic, sovereign; authoritative, magisterial; exhibiting masterly ability or skill ...1580
• PLENIPOTENT * possessing full power or authority ...1658
• PUISSANT possessed of or wielding power; having great authority or influence; mighty, potent, powerful, strong, forcible ...a1450 arch.
• SUGETABLE †* subject to authority ...1382
authoritative, authority - nouns
• AUTORITY † authority ...Bk1898 Eng. dial.
• BANDON † jurisdiction, authority, dominion, control; power of disposal, full discretion, or authority to deal with ...c1230
• CHICKEN an excessive show of authority; unnecessary discipline or regimentation, in either military or civilian life ...1940s US sl., orig. military
• EYELESSNESS † lack of fear or respect for authority ...a1000
• EYELEST † lack of fear or respect for authority ...c1275
• FAY † credit, authority ...c1374 obs. or arch.
• IMPERATIVENESS commanding quality; authoritativeness ...1840
• JACKBOOT arbitrary, cruel, and authoritarian rule or behaviour
• MAGISTERIALITY † mastership; authoritative position ...1655
• MAGISTERIALNESS † the quality of being magisterial; assumption of authority ...1651
• MAGISTERIOUSNESS † assumption of authority ...1650
• MAGISTRALITY † authoritative character; to right to lay down the law or to dogmatize ...1603
• MAN, THE a person or group asserting power or authority over another, esp. in a manner experienced as being oppressive, demeaning, or threatening, as an employer, the police, or dominating racial group
• ONWALD † power, rule, authority ...c893
• SAY authority, influence, voice ...1835 Sc. & Eng. dial.
• SAY-SO 1. an authoritative statement
2. final authority; directing influence
authoritative, authority - person
• BALEBOSS the head of the house; a store owner; a manager; anyone in authority ...Bk1998 Yiddish
• BIG BOPPER, THE a person holding paramount authority ...1966 US sl.
• BIG STICK a person of authority, as a police officer or foreman; a marshal ...1966 Amer. dial.
• BOSS-MAN an employer; a supervisor; a person in authority ...1908 Amer. dial.
• CHEESE an insignificant person, esp. an unworthy person in a position of authority ...20C Amer. sl.
• GAFFER a foreman; an overseer; head man; a person in authority ...1841
• GEEZER an authority figure ...1975 sl.
• HAMMER a man who exercises authority over others ...1989 US sl.
• HAMMER-MAN a man who exercises authority over others; an authoritarian figure ...1929 US Black sl.
• HEAD a person in authority ...1916 Aust. sl.
• HEAD BOTTLE WASHER a person in authority; a foreman ...1915 sl.
• HEAD BUCK-CAT a person in authority ...1968 Irish sl.
• HEAD BUMMAROO the chief, the person in charge; the most important person present; the manager ...1984 UK sl.
• HEAD BUMMER the chief, the boss; the person in charge ...1919 sl.
• HEAD GIRL a girl occupying a position of authority or seniority ...1941
• HEADKICKER a person in authority who is aggressive ...1999 Aust. sl.
• HEAD KNOCK a person having primary authority; a boss, a foreman, etc. ...1944 US Black sl.
• HEAD KNOCKER a person having primary authority; a boss, a foreman, etc. ...1886 US sl.
• HEAD LAR the man in charge ...Bk1997 Irish sl.
• HEAD NEGRO a sarcastic reference to any Black authority figure ...1992 US Black sl.
• HEAD NEGRO IN CHARGE a sarcastic reference to any Black authority figure ...2002 US Black sl.
• HEAD NIGGER IN CHARGE a sarcastic reference to any Black authority figure; the leader of an enterprise ...1973 US Black sl.
• HEAD PUSH the person in charge ...1913 US sl.
• HEADS, THE those in authority ...1916 Aust. sl.
• HEAD SERAG the master or overseer; anyone in authority ...Bk1865 sl.
• HEAD SERANG the boss or person in charge ...1918 Aust. sl.
• HEAD SHEBANG the boss or person in charge ...Bk1988 Aust. sl.
• HEAD SHERANG the boss or person in charge ...1918 Aust. sl.
• HELL MASTER a person who is bossy or overly authoritative ...Bk1989 US college sl.
• HER GILLS a self-important person, an authority; 'his nibs' ...1911 sl., chiefly Aust.
• HER INDOORS - one's wife or girlfriend; also applied more generally to any woman occupying a position of authority who is regarded as domineering ...1979 Brit. colloq.
• HIGHER-UP one of the persons in charge; a member of the upper echelon ...1916 US sl.
• HIGH JINKS a person of real or imagined authority; a self-important person ...1969 Amer. dial.
• HIGH MAN ON THE TOTEM POLE a person of authority and importance ...Bk1980 Amer. sl.
• HIGH MOGUL a person of real or imagined authority; a self-important person ...1906 Amer. dial.
• HIGH MUCK a person of real or imagined authority; a self-important person; an important, pompous person; a socially prominent person ...1856 Amer. dial.
• HIGH MUCKY-MUCK a person of real or imagined authority; a self-important person ...1856 Amer. colloq.
• HIGH-UP a high-ranking, influential, or important person; the boss, the leader; a person in authority ...1882 colloq.
• HIS GILLS a self-important person, an authority; 'his nibs' ...1889 sl., chiefly Aust.
• HIS JILLS a self-important person, an authority; 'his nibs' ...1889 sl., chiefly Aust.
• HIS NIBS somebody in authority ...1812 sl.
• H.N.I.C. a Black person in a position of authority; a Head Nigger in Charge ...1972 US sl.
• INDUNA a person, esp. a Black person, in authority - a foreman ...M20 S. Afr.
• JOKER anyone who is given authority but performs their work with irritating incompetence, thus a 'disgrace to one's profession' ...20C W. Indies
• KILLJOY a policeman or any authority figure ...1920s US Black sl.
• KING BEE a man in a position of authority or dominance ...1875 Amer. dial.
• MACGREGOR, THE the leading man; the chief personage; the person in authority ...1929 Sc.
• MACNAB, THE the person in authority - the chief personage ...1840 Sc.
• MAIN GUY, THE a man of importance, prominence, or authority; the boss ; the leader ...1882 Amer. sl.
• MAIN KAZOO - a man of importance or authority ...1903 Amer. sl.
• MAN - one in authority, such as the skipper of a boat, or a male school teacher ...c1895 Sc.
• MAN, THE - the person or people in authority ...1918 US sl.
• NEARDY - a person in authority - a master - a parent - a foreman ...Bk1902 Eng. dial.
• OLD BOY - any oldish man, or one in authority, as one's father, a headmaster, etc....19C colloq.
• PEA, THE - the person in authority - the boss ...1969 Aust. sl.
• PLENIPOTENT - * a person possessing full power or authority ...1818
• PUNDIT - a learned person, expert, or authority ...17C
• QUEEN BEE - a person, usually a woman, in a position of authority or dominance - a domineering woman or wife ...1930 Amer. dial.
• SILK - an authority figure...1980s US sl.
• TALE'S-MAN - the authority for a statement - one who brings news or originates a statement ...1768 Sc.
• TALE'S-MASTER - the authority for a statement - one who brings news or originates a statement ...Bk1905 Eng. dial.
• UNDERLING - a subordinate - one subject to authority ...c1175
• VIKING CHEAT - a member of the Establishment - an authority - hence, an oppressor ...1990s W. Indies sl.
• WARDEN - a parent or any other authority figure ...1968 US teen sl.
authoritative, authority - verbs
• CRACK THE WHIP to assert authority suddenly or forcibly
• FACULTATE * to invest with authority; to empower; to authorize ...1648
• HAVE THE TAPE to have authority ...Bk1905 Eng. dial.
• SHOW ONE'S MAN to use one's authority; to domineer ...Bk1905 Eng. dial.
• TAKE † to assume authority or importance ...c1470
• WEAR THE BREECHES to have the real authority; usually said of a woman or wife ...1666
• WEAR THE BRITCHES to have the real authority; usually said of a woman or wife ...1909 Amer. dial.
• WIELD THE SCEPTRE to exercise supreme authority, to rule ...L16
• WRITE THE BOOK to be very authoritative or seasoned; to be an expert ...1980s Amer. sl.
AUTHORIZATION - nouns
• ALL-CLEAR denoting authorization to proceed with something; a signal that there is no further danger ...1930s Amer. sl.
AUTHORIZE - verbs
• LEAL †* to legalize, to authorize ...c1350
AUTHORSHIP - nouns
• GOOD LETTERS † book-learning, letters; the profession of literature, authorship ...c1532
AUTOBIOGRAPHY - person
• AUTOBIOGRAPHIST an autobiographer ...1840
AUTOCRAT - person
• MOGUL - an important, influential, powerful, or dominant person; an autocrat; a business or media magnate ...1653
AUTOCRATIC - adjectives
• MASTERLIKE † resembling a master; despotic, autocratic, sovereign; authoritative, magisterial; exhibiting masterly ability or skill ...1580
AUTOGRAPH - nouns
• HANDWRIT † handwriting; autograph; signature ...c1200
autograph - person
• AUTOGRAPH HOUND a collector of autographs, esp. an offensive person who clamours for the autographs of celebrities ...1933 Amer. colloq.
AUTOMATE - verbs
• CYBERNATE to control by machines or computers; to automate ...1962
AUTOMATIC TELLER MACHINE - see CASH MACHINE
AUTOMATION - nouns
• CYBERNATION control, esp. of an industrial process, by machines or computers; automation ...1962
AUTOMOBILE - see VEHICLE
AUTOPSY - adjectives
• AUTOPSIC pert. to autopsy; based on personal observation ...1881
autopsy - nouns
• NECROPSY a post-mortem examination, an autopsy ...1856
• POST an autopsy ...1942 sl.
autopsy - person
• CANOE-MAKER an autopsy surgeon ...1970 US police sl.
autopsy - verbs
• POST to perform an autopsy on someone ...1942 sl.
AUTUMN - adjectives
• AUTUMNIAN † belonging to autumn ...1606
autumn - nouns
• AFTER-END the autumn ...Bk1898 Eng. dial.
• BACK-END the later part of the year; the late autumn ...1820
• BLUEBIRD WEATHER a brief period of warm weather in autumn ...1943 Amer. dial.
• FALLING OF THE LEAF, THE autumn ...1503
• FALLING WEATHER autumn, fall ...1942 Amer. dial.
• FALL OF THE LEAF † autumn ...1545
• FALL OF THE YEAR autumn ...1844 Sc. & Eng. dial.
• GAB O' WINTER, THE a spell of cold weather in early autumn ...1916 Sc.
• HARVEST the third of the four seasons of the year, the autumn ...902 obs. exc. Eng. dial.
• LEAF-FALL the fall of the leaf, autumn ...1840 poet.
• MOUNTAIN DAY a fall day of exceptionally fine weather ...1939 Amer. dial.
AVAIL - nouns
• GAIN † advantage, use, avail, benefit; remedy, help ...c1200
avail - verbs
• BESTEAD to be of service or use to; to avail ...1589
• GAIN † to be suitable, useful or advantageous; to avail, to help; to serve, to suffice ...c1200
• SKILL to avail, to help ...1528 arch.
• YAIN † to avail ...c1315
AVAILABLE - adjectives
• BACK IN CIRCULATION available again after a broken engagement or other broken commitment ...20C US sl.
• GAIN † of things: available, handy, useful, convenient ...a1300 obs. exc. Eng. dial.
• ON DECK available, prepared ...L19 sl.
• ON OFFER available ...2000 UK sl.
• UNGAINABLE not easily available ...Bk1905 Eng. dial.
AVALANCHE - adjectives
• AVALANCHY liable to descend in or be swept by an avalanche ...1894
avalanche - nouns
• BERGFALL a falling of rock fragments or debris; an avalanche of stones ...1856
• ICE-BOLT an avalanche ...1879
• LAUWINE an avalanche ...1818
• LAVANGE * an avalanche ...1806
• VALANCHE †* an avalanche ...1766
• VOLLENGE † an avalanche ...1830
AVARICE - nouns
• CHINCHERY † niggardliness, miserliness, avarice ...c1386
AVARICIOUS - adjectives
• AVAROUS, AVERISH, AVEROUS † avaricious, covetous, greedy ...1303 obs. exc. Eng. dial.
• GRABBY avaricious, greedy ...Bk1942 Amer. sl.
• GRIPPY grasping, avaricious ...Sc.
• GRIPULOUS † grasping, greedy, avaricious ...1614
• HOG FOR, A avaricious, greedy ...Bk1942 Amer. sl.
• HOGGY avaricious, greedy ...Bk1942 Amer. sl.
• HOOKEM-SNIVEY avaricious, greedy ...Bk1942 Amer. sl.
• INGORDIGIOUS †* greedy, avaricious ...1637
• KEEN of a person: avaricious, driving a hard bargain, looking sharply after one's own interests ...1902 Sc.
• LUCROUS † avaricious, covetous ...1551
• MISERTISH miserly, avaricious ...1824 Sc.
• MISERTLY miserly, avaricious ...Bk1903 N. Ireland
• ON THE MAKE said of someone intent on profit; avaricious; greedy ...1869 orig. US
• PHILARGYROUS † loving money, greedy of gain, covetous, avaricious ...1665
• PIGGY avaricious, greedy ...Bk1942 Amer. sl.
• SCRAPE-GOOD † miserly, stingy, avaricious ...a1693
• SHONKY avaricious, mean; money-grubbing ...1951 sl.
• SILVER-SICK † avaricious ...a1500
avaricious - nouns
• AVARITION †* the quality of being avaricious; greediness of wealth ...1622
avaricious - person
• GED † a greedy or avaricious person; a glutton ...1825 Sc.
• GIPE, GYPE † a glutton; a greedy or avaricious person ...1662 Sc. & Eng. dial.
• MESSALINA a voracious, avaricious woman ...1975 US sl.
• MISERD a miser, a close-fisted, avaricious person ...1898 Sc. & Eng. dial.
• MONEY-GRUB one who is sordidly intent on amassing money - an avaricious person ...1768
• MONEY-GRUBBER a person who seeks assiduously to acquire or accumulate money, esp. by sordid or contemptible methods; a person motivated chiefly by avarice or commercialism; an avaricious or rapacious person...1825
• NEEDMORE an avaricious or greedy person ...1968 Amer. dial.
• SCORRIE - an avaricious, quarrelsome person ...1961 Sc.
• SCRAPE - a miser - a greedy, avaricious person ...Bk1904 Sc.
• SCRAPE-PENNY - † one who gathers and hoards money in trifling sums - an avaricious or penurious person - a miserly, stingy person - a niggard ...1584
• SCRAPIE - a miser - a greedy, avaricious person ...Bk1904 Sc.
• SCRIMGER - an avaricious, covetous person ...Bk1904 Sc.
• SNIG † a covetous or avaricious person ...1629
• SNUDGE - † a mean, avaricious person - a niggard - a miser - a stingy person - an intrusive, sponging fellow ...1545 obs. exc. Eng. dial.
• SUCK-EGG - an avaricious person ...1609
• THROTTLE-POKE - a grasping, avaricious person ...Bk1905 Eng. dial.
avaricious - verbs
• RAKE AND SCRAPE to collect everything one can lay one's hands on for one's own advantage; to be over-grasping and avaricious ...Bk1905 Eng. dial.
• SKIN A FLEA FOR ITS HIDE to be excessively mean and avaricious ...1868
• SKIN A FLEA FOR ITS HIDE AND TALLOW to go to great lengths to save money; to be avaricious, mean, niggardly, or stingy ...1819 Amer. dial.
• SKIN A GNAT FOR A PENNY to go to great lengths to save money; to be avaricious, mean, or stingy ...1965 Amer. dial.
• SKIN A LOUSE to go to great lengths to save money; to be avaricious, mean, or stingy ...1803 Amer. dial.
• SKIN A LOUSE FOR A CENT to go to great lengths to save money; to be avaricious, mean, or stingy ...1965 Amer. dial.
• SKIN A LOUSE FOR HIS HIDE to go to great lengths to save money; to be avaricious, mean, or stingy ...1965 Amer. dial.
• SKIN A LOUSE FOR HIS HIDE AND TALLOW to go to great lengths to save money; to be avaricious, mean, or stingy ...1965 Amer. dial.
• SKIN A LOUSE FOR TALLOW to go to great lengths to save money; to be avaricious, mean, or stingy ...1965 Amer. dial.
AVENGE - verbs
• AWREAK † to avenge ...1048
• BEWREAK † to avenge; to give vent in action to incensed feelings ...c1325
• VENGE to avenge, to execute revenge ...a1300 arch.
AVENGEMENT - nouns
• ULTION †* vengeance, revenge, avengement ...c1550
AVENGER - person
• NEMESIS the goddess of retribution or vengeance; hence, one who avenges or punishes ...1576
• ULTRICE † a female avenger ...1490
• VENGER an avenger; one who takes vengeance on a person ...a1340 now poetic
• VENGERESS †* a female avenger ...c1374
• VENGESOUR †* an avenger ...1382
AVENGING - adjectives
• VENGEANT † avenging; executing vengeance; inflicting retributive punishment ...a1340
• VENGING avenging; executing vengeance ...c1470
AVENUE - nouns
• AVE avenue ...1985 Amer. sl.
AVER - verbs
• VER † to aver, to declare ...c1400
AVERAGE - adjectives
• BOG STANDARD not containing any special features ...Aust. sl.
• BOG STOCK not containing any special features ...Aust. sl.
• FAIR TO MIDDLING 1. about average; slightly better than average; frequently used to understate a feeling of good health ...1865 Amer. dial.
2. below average ...1939 Amer. dial.
• MANNERLY somewhat above the average; good ...1854 Eng. dial.
• MIDDLE BROW middle-class; average or mediocre
• MIDDLESEX average, ordinary ...1908 Amer. dial.
average - nouns
• MIDDLING someone or something of only average quality ...1916 Amer. dial.
average - person
• COPPERTAIL the ordinary or average person; one belonging to the lower classes of society ...1890 Aust. sl.
• GEORGE SPELVIN a pseudonym used to hide the identity of an actor; also, a name given to a hypothetical average or ordinary man ...1908 chiefly US
• HACKER a run-of-the-mill, average person ...1973 US sl.
• HAM AND EGGER an average, inconsequential, or mediocre person; a person who is below par, a second-rate person; a stupid, incompetent, or inferior person; an oaf ...1919 US sl.
• JOE a fellow; a chap; an average man...M19
• JOE BLOGGS a hypothetical average man ...1969 Brit. colloq.
• JOE BLOW a hypothetical average man ...c1941 US colloq.
• JOE CITIZEN a hypothetical average person ...1932 colloq.
• JOE DOAKES, JOE DOKES a hypothetical average man ...1943 US colloq.
• JOE PUBLIC (often mildly derogatory) a typical male member of the general public ...1942 sl., orig. US theatrical
• JOE SCHMO a hypothetical average or ordinary person; a person of no distinction or importance ...1947 sl., orig. US
• JOE SIXPACK a hypothetical average working or blue-collar person, esp. a man ...1972 US sl.
• JOE SOAP a hypothetical average man ...1966 sl.
• JOHN DOE an ordinary or typical citizen
• MAN-IN-THE-CARS man-in-the-street; an average or ordinary person ...1888 US
• MIDDLING someone of only average quality ...1916 Amer. dial.
• MOKUS a working man; an 'average joe' ...1914 US sl.
• MOS a typical Man On the Street ...1997 US sl.
• NO GREAT SHAKES - an unimportant or average person ...c1850 Amer. sl.
AVERMENT - nouns
• VERMENT † averment; the act of proving, verification ...1472
AVERSE, AVERSION - adjectives
• ALLERGIC having a strong aversion to something or someone ...1935 Amer. jocular
• CROOKED ON annoyed, angry; hostile or averse to ...1942 Aust. & NZ sl.
• OFF having lost interest in; averse to ...1908 UK sl.
• OFFWARD † turned or directed off or away; averse ...1563
averse, aversion - nouns
• ADVERSENESS opposition, hostility; aversion ...1620
• AVERSATION a great dislike for or turning away from anything; abhorrence, hatred, aversion ...1613 arch.
• HEART-SCALD disagreeable sensation, disgust, aversion ...1629 Sc. & N. Eng. dial.
• OFFWARDNESS † the state of being turned away; averseness, aversion ...1600
averse, aversion - verbs
• AVERSATE †* to turn away from, to regard with aversion, to reject ...1725
averse, aversion - interjections
• BAW! an exclamation of disgust, aversion, or contempt ...1377
• UFF-DA! an expression of surprise, aversion, disgust, or pain ...1950 Amer. dial.
• YA! an exclamation of disgust, aversion, contempt, or malicious defiance ...1812
• YAH! an exclamation of disgust, aversion, contempt, derision, or malicious defiance ...1812
• YAR! an exclamation of disgust, aversion, or malicious defiance ...1812
AVERT - verbs
• FORFEND to avert, to keep away or off, to fend off, to prevent ...1382 arch.
AVIARY - nouns
• ORNITHON a place in which birds are kept; a poultry house; an aviary ...1870
• VOLLIERE †* a large bird cage; an aviary ...1638
AVIATION - adjectives
• ALTITUDE-HAPPY giddy from the effects of too much oxygen ...1955 Amer. aviation usage
• GROUND-POUNDING nonflying ...1945 Amer. military aviation usage
aviation - adverbs
• DOWNSTAIRS at or to a lower altitude; below ...1942 Amer. aviation usage
aviation - nouns
• AIRTORIAL an editorial on aviation ...World War II Amer. sl.
• ANGEL one thousand feet of altitude ...1943 Amer. Military Aviation usage
• ANGEL FACTORY an aviation plant employing females ...World War II Amer. sl.
• BAG in aviation: an observation balloon, blimp, dirigible, etc. ...1928 Amer. sl.
• CHINESE LANDING (usually offensive) a clumsy or disastrous landing made with one wing of an airplane angled acutely toward the ground ...1918 Amer. aviation sl.
• GROUND FLYING conversation about flying, usually indulged in by those who cannot or do not fly ...1919 Amer. aviation usage
• MAGELLAN an aircraft's navigator; hence, an automated navigational system ...c1952 Amer. aviation usage
• SAUSAGE BALLOON an observation balloon ...1916 sl.
• TEDDY BEAR a fur-lined high-altitude flying suit ...1917 sl.
aviation - person
• ACK-EMMA an air mechanic ...1917 Amer. military aviation usage
• GROUNDER a nonaviator ...1961 Amer. aviation usage
• GROUND-GRIPPER a nonaviator ...1944 military aviation usage
• GROUNDHOG a nonaviator, esp. a nonflying air force officer ...1918 Amer. aviation usage
• GROUND-POUNDER a person in military service who is not an aviator ...1945 Amer. military aviation usage
• GROUND SQUIRREL a nonaviator ...1918 Amer. aviation usage
• MODOCK a pilot given to boasting about flying experiences; one who talks about aviation but never flies ...1933 Amer. aviation sl.
aviation - verbs
• BEND THE THROTTLE to fly above normal cruising speed ...Bk1944 service sl.
AVIATOR - see PILOT
AVID - adjectives
• AVIDIOUS * avid, ardently desirous, extremely eager, greedy ...1534
AVOCADO - nouns
• AGUACOTE the alligator pear or avocado ...1897
• ALLIGATOR PEAR an avocado ...1696
AVOID - adjectives
• BAULKY anxious to avoid one, to get out of the way ...Bk1898 Eng. dial.
avoid - person
• NUT-DUCKER a person who stares at the ground to avoid acknowledging an acquaintance in the street ...Bk1999 Aust. sl.
avoid - verbs
• ABSONATE † to avoid, to detest (a law term) ...Bk1775
• ALIBI to hedge; to avoid an issue ...1967 Amer. dial.
• BALK † to pass by a place; to avoid in passing; to shun ...1484
• BAULK † to pass by a place; to avoid in passing; to shun ...1484
• BEAT to avoid to evade punishment or conviction ...1912 Amer. sl.
• BEAT ABOUT THE BUSH to avoid coming to the point; to delay talking about something difficult or unpleasant ...1520
• BEFLEE † to flee from, to flee, to avoid, to shun ...c1000
• BEFLY † to fly from, to shun, to avoid, to escape ...c1175
• DECLINE † to turn aside from to get or keep out of the way of; to avoid, to shun ...a1400-50
• DEVITE †* to shun, to avoid ...1549
• DODGE THE COLUMN to shirk one's duty or avoid work ...1919 sl., orig. services' usage
• DOG to shirk, to avoid a duty or responsibility ...1930 US sl.
• DOG IT to act lazily or half-heartedly; to shirk or avoid responsibility, risk, etc. ...1905 sl., orig. US
• DUCK to avoid someone or something ...1864 US sl.
• DUCK AND DIVE to avoid or evade, esp. with regard to legality or responsibility; to dodge work; to shirk; hence, to avoid regular employment but make living nevertheless ...1960 UK rhyming sl. for 'skive' (to avoid or evade)
• EVITATE †* to shun, to avoid, to escape ...1588
• FUNK to try to avoid or evade an undertaking, duty etc. ...1834
• FUNK IT to avoid an issue or an act through fear ...18C sl.
• FUNK OUT to back out of something, owing to a lack of courage or spirit; to try to avoid or evade an undertaking, duty etc. ...1859
• GET AWAY WITH THE BAGGAGE to escape detection in or to avoid the consequences of mischief or wrongdoing ...1873 Amer. sl. Hist
• GIVE ONE THE GO-BY to avoid, to disregard, to neglect ...1855 Amer. dial.
• GIVE SOMEONE THE RUN to deceive; to delay; to put off; to avoid; usually in order to give oneself some form of advantage, breathing space, etc....1910s orig. US
• GIVE SOMEONE THE RUNAROUND to deceive; to delay; to put off; to avoid; usually in order to give oneself some form of advantage, breathing space, etc....1910s orig. US
• GIVE THE GO-AROUND TO to avoid, to evade, to slight ...E20 chiefly US
• GO ROUND THE BUSH to avoid coming to the point; to delay talking about something difficult or unpleasant ...1705
• GYPPO to dodge an unpleasant responsibility; to shirk a duty; to avoid something ...1971 S. Afr. sl.. orig. military
• LAY OUT to avoid someone; to step aside ...1920s US Black sl.
• MAKE ONESELF SCARCE to stay away; to avoid ...colloq.
• MITHE † remain concealed; to escape notice; to avoid; to hide one's thoughts or feelings ...a900
• ODDS to avoid, to get out of ...1958 sl.
• PUNK OUT to lose one's nerve, to avoid doing something out of fear ...1920 US sl.
• SCOFF to dodge, to avoid doing ...1969 Sc.
• SCREED to shun, to eschew, to avoid ...1851 Eng. dial.
• SHOOT † to avoid, to escape ...1543 Sc.
• SHURN to avoid, to shun ...a1300-1400 obs. rare exc. Amer. dial.
• SQUIB to lose one's nerve, to avoid doing something out of fear ...1918 Aust. sl.
• TAKE OUTDOORS ON SOMEONE to leave alone, to avoid someone ...1930s sl.
• UMBECHEW † to avoid, to shun ...1456 Sc.
• UMBESCHEW † to avoid, to shun ...1456 Sc.
• WAIVE † to shun, to avoid; to elude, to escape, to dodge a blow ...1303
• WARE to beware of, to guard against; to avoid, to shun, to keep clear of ...a900 arch.
• WIMP OUT to lose one's nerve, to avoid doing something out of fear ...1981 sl., orig. US
• WORM OUT OF SOMETHING to evade or avoid an unpleasant situation ...1893 Amer. sl.
• WRIGGLE OUT (OF) to avoid or evade a responsibility or duty ...1848 sl.
AVOIDED - adjectives
• DEVITABLE † easy to be shunned, avoided, or escaped ...1727
AVOIDANCE, AVOIDING - nouns
• BEFLYING † shunning, avoiding ...1340
• DECLINING † avoidance ...1607
• GO-BY avoidance, disregard ...1855 Amer. dial.