illywhacker
Definition from Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Contents |
English [edit]
Etymology [edit]
Uncertain. Suggested by lexicographer Sidney Baker to derive from speiler, via eeler-spee or eeler-speeler by pig Latin, and from which illywhacker. The verb form whack the illy is a back-formation from the noun.
Alternative forms [edit]
Noun [edit]
illywhacker (plural illywhackers)
- (Australia, colloquial, obsolete) A small-time confidence trickster or seller of trinkets.
- 1985, Peter Carey, Illywhacker.
Usage notes [edit]
The term is long obsolete and the exact original sense is thought to be lost.[1]
Derived terms [edit]
References [edit]
- ^ 2001, Susan Butler, The Dinkum Dictionary: The Origins of Australian Words, Text Publishing, ISBN 187648585X.
