| 'D' |
Dad and Dave |
Two fictional characters, created by Steele Rudd in the 1890s and
since elaborated on stage, screen and radio as typifying raw, outback humour |
| Dag
-a- |
An
amusing or odd person; a nerd |
| Daggy |
Dirty |
| Daks |
Pants |
| Damage
-what's the- |
What
does it cost |
| Damper |
Bread
baked in the ashes of a fire |
| Darlo |
The
district of Darlinghurst, Sydney |
| Dart |
A
scheme; plan; dodge; a desirable object |
| Dead
as mutton |
Dead;
obsolete; out of fashion |
| Dead
bird -it's a- |
It's
a certainty |
| Dead
copper |
A
police informer |
| Dead
hand |
An
expert |
| Dead
heart -the- |
The
remote desert areas of inland Australia |
| Dead
horse |
Tomato
sauce |
| Dead
marine -a- |
An
empty beer bottle |
| Dead nuts on |
Opposed to; antagonistic towards |
| Dead ring of |
Exactly or strikingly similar to |
| Dead
set |
Being
absolutely sure |
| Deadbeat |
A man
down on his luck or without money |
| Deadwood
fence |
A
rough rural fence built of fallen branches and logs |
| Deaner
or deener |
A
shilling |
| Death
adders
in one's pocket -to have- |
To be
mean with money |
| Dekko
-to- |
To
look at |
| Demon |
A
policeman; a detective |
| Derro
-a- |
A
destitute person |
| Derry
on |
A
suspicion or grudge against a person |
| Devil
devil |
Rough
country broken up with holes and hillocks |
| Devil
on the coals |
A
small type of damper |
Dice |
To reject; to throw away |
Dickin |
Cut it out; be reasonable |
| Didgeridoo |
An
aboriginal musical instrument |
| Die on
it |
To let
someone down; to fail to keep a promise |
| Dig
-one's- |
Ones
home; ones place of residence |
| Digger |
Originally
a gold miner; an Australian soldier |
| Diggings |
A
non-alluvial goldfield; goldfields in general |
| Dill |
A
simpleton or fool |
| Dilly |
Silly |
| Dillybag |
A
small bag used for general carrying purposes |
| Ding
-a- |
An
Italian |
| Dingbat
-a- |
Someone
who is acting foolish |
| Dingo |
A
betrayer; cheat; sneak; a native Dog |
| Dingy
(of wool) |
Thin,
discoloured and wasty wool that may not scour white |
| Dink |
A
Chinese |
| Dinkum |
True;
vouched for; honest |
| Dinkum
Aussie |
A
born-Australian; an Australian patriot |
| Dinkum
oil |
Truth;
inside information of strict authenticity |
| Dinkydi
-it's- |
It's
true; it's honest; it's fully reliable |
| Dip |
A swim
in either fresh or salt water; a simpleton or fool |
| Dirt
-put in the- |
To
play foul in any game or contest; to act unfairly; to make unnecessary trouble |
| Dirty
big |
Extremely
large |
| Divvy |
A
share of the proceeds; a dividend |
| Divvy
van |
Police
car |
| Do
-a- |
A
party |
| Do a
perish |
Almost
to die for want of a drink |
Do some good for yourself |
To record success in an amorous exploit |
Dob in
-to- |
To betray; to focus blame on another |
| Dodger |
Food
of any kind |
| Dodgy
-it's- |
It's
suspicious; it's underhanded; it's not right |
| Doer |
An
amusing or odd person |
Dog |
Food; a plain-clothes railway detective; a drinking debt |
| Dog
and bone -the- |
The
telephone |
| Dog
licence |
A
Certificate of Exemption to allow an aboriginal to buy drink in a hotel |
| Dog
list -on the- |
To be
barred from drinking in a hotel |
| Dog
-tie up a- |
To
book up drinks in a hotel bar |
| Doggy
(of wool) |
Straight
in fibre, lacking what wool classers call "breeding" with little felting
property |
| Dog's
breakfast |
A
confusion; mess; turmoil |
| Dog's
dinner |
A
phrase
meaning "You look terrible" eg "You look like Dog's
Dinner" |
| Dog's
disease |
Influenza |
| Dole
Bludger |
Someone
who takes unemployment benefits, when s/he is perfectly capable of
working |
| Dole
-the- |
Unemployment
benefits |
| Domain
dosser |
A
loafer or "down and out" frequenting the Sydney Domain |
| Donah
or Doner |
A
sweetheart, girl-friend |
| Donkey's
years -have not seen you in- |
Have
not seen you for a long time |
| Don't
do anything you couldn't eat |
Don't
bite off more than you can chew. A warning to a boastful or argumentative person |
| Don't
wake it up! |
Don't
talk about it; let sleeping dogs lie |
| Doona |
A
quilt; a duvet |
| Dork
-a- |
A
fool |
| Dosh |
Money |
| Double
dink |
To
carry a second person on a horse or on the top bar of a bicycle |
| Double
drummer |
A type
of cicada |
Double fleece |
The fleece of a sheep which has missed one shearing and has been
brought in for the next clip |
| Dover |
A
clasp knife |
| Down
-a- |
A
grudge against a person; an objection against something |
| Down
on -get- |
To
steal, remove, appropriate |
| Downunder |
Australia |
| Drack
(of a woman) |
Unattractive,
unworthy of male attention |
| Draft
on the camp |
To cut
out cattle |
| Drag
on -to- |
To
marry; to undertake |
| Drag
the chain |
To be
slow, to lag behind in work or other activity |
| Dream
time |
The
aboriginal concept of creation |
Dreaming |
An aboriginal totemic site; a place which a totemic ancestor
inhabits; a totem |
| Drier
than a dead dingo's donger |
Being
very thirsty |
| Drink
with the flies |
To
drink alone |
| Drip
-a- |
A
boring person |
| Drongo |
A
simpleton; a fool; a no hoper |
| Drop |
To
strike; knock out. As a threat "I'll drop you" |
| Drop
ones bundle |
To
panic; to give up trying |
| Drop
the bucket |
To
throw responsibility for an offence on to someone else |
| Drover |
Cowboy |
| Drover's
guide |
As for
bagman's gazette |
| Drum |
A
swagman's rolled blanket and the belongings placed within it |
Drum
-to- |
The true facts; sound advice; a valuable tip; to inform; to
advise; to explain the correct facts |
| Drunk
as a fowl |
Very
drunk |
| Drunk
up |
A
drinking bout or drunken party |
| Dry as a sunstruck bone |
Extremely dry;
drought stricken |
| Dry
old stick |
Genial
reference to an elderly person |
Dry
-the- |
The
winter and generally rainless season in Australia's far north; waterless country or desert |
Duckhouse
-up against one's- |
A phrase used to describe some setback to a person's plans |
| Dud
-a- |
Something
that does not work properly; a lemon |
| Dud up |
Deliberately
to misinform or mislead someone |
| Duds |
Trousers |
| Duff
-to- |
To
steal cattle or horses |
| Duff
-up the- |
To
be pragnant |
Dump |
A small silver coin used in Australia between 1813 and 1829. It
was punched from the centre of a silver dollar; the remainder of the coin was known as a
ring dollar or holey dollar; A cache of stolen goods; any place, residence, lodging or
office; to press wool in a bale |
Dumper |
A heavy wave that, unlike an ordinary breaker in the Australian
surf, collapses suddenly and with great force; a cigarette end |
| Dungaree
settler |
An
outback settler of the poorest financial resources |
| Dunlop
cheque |
A
bounced cheque |
| Dunny
budgie |
A
fly |
| Dunny
-the- |
The
toilet |
| Durry |
Cigarette |
| Dust |
Flour |
| Dwell
on |
To
follow or watch a person closely; eagerly to await another's decision or action |
| Dynamite |
Baking
powder |
