This blog was inspired by the blue swimmer, which as well as being a kind of crab turns out to be a slang name for

We’ve got a sugar rush of Aussie slang for you to chew on, so sit down and unwrap this week’s Word of the Week. A

There’s a fundamental rule in dictionary-writing that colloquialisms should be avoided in definitions. The idea is that the language should be neutral in register – not

You think that merino woollen jumper you’re wearing just came to you beautiful and soft. No! You are wearing that jumper thanks to the work of a ringer!

This week’s Word of the Week is a versatile piece of Aussie slang that often arrives in chunks. Chuck means, among other things, to vomit,

October is here. The weather is heating up, and though the footy finals have been moved from their traditional slots, you can console yourself with

That TV show you can’t stop binging or the dessert you’ll never say ‘no’ to… Are these things addictive or addicting? What about cigarettes —

In this stressful time of coronavirus, it’s interesting to see that our passions have been aroused by an international dispute over the pronunciation of a

Rebel Without A Clause by Sue Butler is a fascinatingly idiosyncratic romp through the world of words from the former Editor of the Macquarie Dictionary coming

Aussies love sticking a bet on the races, particularly at Melbourne Cup time. If you’re lucky enough to win big you might find it in

A flicker of movement in the corner of your eye. You are being hunted. Eight legs creep across the wall. Tangled in a web of

This week, we are walking through the Bogan gate, and we don’t mean the town in Central New South Wales. A Bogan gate is a gate

This week’s Word of the Week is dedicated to your granny. How many times did she catch you with your hand in the biscuit tin?

Welcome to our new words blog, where we share new and topical words, some of which were submitted by you via the suggest a word feature

We’ve all been to enough school dances and weddings to know that Aussies love to get in line and dance in sync. From the nutbush

While popularly remembered as a chain of restaurants, the term black stump was commonly used in colonial times as a colloquial term to denote a

Many English words have been borrowed from French (and many other languages). There are lots of words that descend from the French language that crossed

The release of the Macquarie Dictionary Eighth Edition should be a celebration of all of the new and wonderful words that have entered our lexicon in