nut

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

n.


1) Slang. Explained in quotation.

1882. A. J. Boyd, `Old Colonials,' p. 60:

«The peculiar type of the Australian native (I do not mean theaboriginal blackfellow, but the Australian white), which hasreceived the significant sobriquet of `The Nut,' may bemet with to all parts of Australia, but more particularly . . .in far-off inland bush townships. . . . What is a Nut? . . .Imagine a long, lank, lantern jawed, whiskerless, colonialyouth . . . generally nineteen years of age, with a smoothface, destitute of all semblance of a crop of `grass,' as hecalls it in his vernacular.»

2) Dare-devil, etc. «Tommy the Nut» was the alias ofthe prisoner who, according to the story, was first describedas «a-larrikin,» by Sergeant Dalton. See Larrikin.

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