expiree

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See also: expirée

English

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Etymology

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From expire +‎ -ee.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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expiree (plural expirees)

  1. (Australia, historical) In penal colonies of early Australia, a convict whose sentence had been served.[1]
    • 1874, Marcus Clarke, For the Term of His Natural Life, IV.2:
      [W]hen the year after, John Carr blossomed into an "expiree", master of a fine wife and a fine fortune, there were many about him who would have made his existence in Australia pleasant enough.
    • 1984, Lloyd Evans, Paul Llewellyn Nicholls, Convicts and Colonial Society, 1788-1868, page 276:
      According to the census of 1870 the number of men still under the charge of the authorities is about four thousand, including those still in confinement; expirees being classed as free men.
    • 1985, University of Western Australia, Westerly[2], volume 30, page 248:
      Most of them secured a husband within a year or so, but more remarkable is the fact that expirees competed very successfully against the colonial boys for brides. This was despite the knowledge that a woman who married an expiree lost her claim to respectability.
    • 1995, Royal Australian Historical Society, Journal of the Royal Australian Historical Society[3], volume 81, page 37:
      Many old expirees received terminal or geriatric care in the Society′s Asylum, but there was a gap between the expiration of their sentences and their requiring terminal care during which time they depended upon their own resources.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ 1916, Ernest Scott, A Short History of Australia, Chapter V, [1].