macquarie

We’ve put together a list of six beautiful words for you to enjoy. Understand their meanings and let them roll off your tongue and help you escape even just for a moment in time. From the abstract to reality, at the Macquarie Dictionary, we believe there is beauty in almost every word, but some shine … Read more

This week we are enjoying some horse’s doover. Say what? Horse’s doover is a jocular mispronunciation of hors d’oeuvre that has been part of Aussie slang since the 1970s.  References to France, the French and the French language in Australian English are often humorous, with the special aim of butchering that language.  Slang words that originated from French … Read more

It’s official, the Macquarie Dictionary staff have gone troppo, as in we’ve gone mental or are mentally disturbed. The most notable usage of troppo was as the title of a 1982 George Harrison solo album. Gone Troppo was an appropriate title for the former Beatles guitarist, who was fed up with the music industry and temporarily retired shortly … Read more

Here at Macquarie Dictionary, especially during this windy and rainy week, we are missing the warmer weather. However, we also know what awaits us at the end of winter. Swooping season. Swooping season is magpie breeding season, during which parent birds tend to attack people or animals in the vicinity of their nests, perceived as … Read more

This week’s blog is dedicated to toddlers because they are the most likely to spit the dummy. A relative recent phrase, having joined the Aussie lexicon in the 1980s, to spit the dummy means to throw a tantrum.  Aussie slang features plenty of colourful ways of saying someone is throwing a tantrum or losing their temper. … Read more

It’s deep into the football season. With the finals approaching, it’s time to analyse your team’s chances of making it to the last eight. Are they high on the ladder or are they cellar dwellers? You can probably guess what cellar dwellers means. Yes, it means your team is in last place. Bottom of the ladder. Rather than … Read more

You’re lower than a snake’s belly! If someone tosses this insult your way, they are calling you mean, despicable and contemptible. Gee, thanks. At the Macquarie Dictionary we are welled versed in Aussie insults. This isn’t the first time we have explored barbs on our blog. So strap yourselves in for another round of great Aussie insults. Mongrel is a … Read more

Australians love brevity. We are fond of shortening words. Perhaps the most famous example is the shortening of the Melbourne Cricket Ground to the MCG. But that wasn’t enough for Victorians, so they dropped the M and the C so the colossal stadium became simple the G.  Today we want to look at the suffix … Read more

We may be in the depths of winter, but the new words are still running hot! In fact, our first new contender is for a source of heat you don’t want to be anywhere near. It’s gigafire: a fire that burns between 100,000 and 1 million hectares. With global warming causing increasingly extreme weather events, … Read more

In recognition of Pride Month, a month of celebration that recognises LGBTIQ+ people, Macquarie Dictionary has gathered a few slang terms commonly used in queer communities. A lot of slang originates in or was popularised by American ballroom, vogue and drag culture of New York City in the 1980s. First off is the term throwing … Read more