macquarie

In a world where our words are practical and repetitive (just read any email chain!) we like to collate words that make you sit back and say “beautiful”. Below are six words that illuminate the pages of the Macquarie Dictionary. Some glow while others feel peaceful. Which word is the most beautiful to you? Comment below … Read more

Ever find yourself stuck in traffic on a single lane road out in the bush? Chances are you might be beeping your horn at a paddock-basher.  Pass any farm and you will see these beat up old vehicles lined up in various stages of rust. Paddock-bashers are often unregistered and primarily used for driving around … Read more

This week we are looking at a mischievous little word that originated from Tasmania. A nointer is a slang term for a spoiled or difficult child, one who is particularly brattish.  Originating from British dialect, nointer is a shortening of anointer, ‘a mischievous fellow’. This relates to the obsolete verb anoint ‘to chastise or thrash’, in other words to … Read more

Christmas is over, the New Year has come, you might have had your fill of pudding but at the Macquarie Dictionary office we are hungry for more. A magic pudding is anything which appears to be inexhaustible.  Go easy, mate. This is no magic pudding! The phrase is in reference to the stroppy little pudding character of Norman Lindsay’s Aussie … Read more

This week at Macquarie Dictionary we are on the move. The wallaby track is a phrase that describes the route across country taken by workers looking for seasonal employment, usually while they lived as swagmen. Also described as living ‘on the track,’ this phrase goes right to the heart of Australia’s view of itself in the … Read more

The word get is a present tense verb, generally meaning to obtain, gain or acquire. All up, there are 115 different definitions recorded in the dictionary! The past tense is get, though the form gotten is gaining some currency in Australia. Grammatically speaking, gotten is the past participle, though got can be used as the past participle … Read more

The People’s Choice Word of the Year 2019 has been voted on by the Australian public in a frenzied week since cancel culture was announced as the Committee’s Choice Word of the Year 2019. Find out what it is here…

  This year, the Macquarie Dictionary covered topics from the etymology of the word kangaroo and echidna, to the way we refer to classic Aussie food like cheese slaw and parmigiana, to all the new words on the watchlist for possible inclusion in the dictionary. Each month, we highlighted a particular Aussie slang phrase as … Read more

Baby animals are a constant source of cooing here at the Macquarie office so we decided to compile a list of baby animal names to go along with our list of collective nouns for animals…