illywhacker
Definition from Wiktionary, the free dictionary
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[edit] English
[edit] Etymology
The origin is not certain, but lexicographer Sidney Baker has speiler becoming eeler-spee (by pig Latin) or eeler-speeler, and from which illywhacker. The verb form whack the illy is then a back-formation from the noun.
[edit] Noun
illywhacker (plural illywhackers)
- (Australian, colloquial, obsolete) A person who is a small-time confidence trickster or seller of trinkets. This is long obsolete and the exact original sense is thought to be lost. (Reference: The Dinkum Dictionary : The Origins of Australian Words, Susan Butler, Text Publishing, 2001, ISBN 187648585X.)
- 1985: Illywhacker — title of novel by Peter Carey, rescuing the word from a long descent into obscurity
