Captain Cook

Dictionary of Australasian Words Phrases and Usages by Edward E. Morris

or Cooker


n.

NewZealand colonists' slang. First applied to the wild pigs ofNew Zealand, supposed to be descended from those firstintroduced by Captain Cook; afterwards used as term of reproachfor any pig which, like the wild variety, obstinately refusedto fatten. See Introduction.

1879. W. Quin, `New Zealand Country Journal,' vol. iii. p. 55:

«Many a rare old tusker finds a home in the mountain gorges.The immense tusks at Brooksdale attest the size of the wildboars or Captain Cooks, as the patriarchs are generally named.»

1894. E. Wakefield, `New Zealand after Fifty Years,' p. 85:

«The leanness and roughness of the wild pig gives it quite adifferent appearance from the domesticated variety; and hence agaunt, ill-shaped, or sorry-looking pig is everywhere called inderision a `Captain Cook.'»

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