G
- gab
- chatter, talk
- the Gabba
- the brisbane cricket ground
Located in the suburb of Wooloongabba. - galah
- a fool, an idiot
Get out of it, you great bloody galah. The word comes from Yuwaalaraay and related aboriginal‑australian languages of northern NSW.
The bird referred to is the grey‑backed, pink‑breasted cockatoo Eolophus roseicapillus, occurring in all parts of Australia except the extreme north-east and south-west. -
first recorded in the 1850s
- galah session
- a period allocated for private conversation
Especially between women on isolated stations, on an outback radio network. - galoot
- an awkward, silly fellow, a great clumsy oaf
Originally used by sailors to refer to soldiers
aussie slang since 1812
- galvo
- galvanised iron
In the form of corrugated sheets, a quintessential building material in Oz. - gander
- to look at something
Have a gander at these galahs! - game as Ned Kelly
- plucky, resolute
One who is imbued with the fighting spirit of Australia's national hero.
To be game as Ned Kelly is to be outstandingly courageous. - gammon
- This word has survived over the years as a part of Aboriginal Australian Aboriginal English, from where it has now been re-adopted into Australian English, epecially in areas close to Aboriginal Australian Aboriginal Communities, such as northern Australia.
- 1 to lie or tell fibs
- 2 to pretend, tease, or kid
- 3 a fake, a lie, something no good, nonsense
aussie slang since 1812
- garbo
- 1 garbage collector ∼ garbologist
The garbos come every Tuesday.
2 garbage bin
Chuck it in the garbo. - gargle
- an alcoholic drink
Care for a gargle?
aussie slang since the 1930s
- garn!
- go on!
A typical aussie contraction similar to carn!
Garn, there's a stack of room!
aussie slang since the 1910s
- gas-bag
- one who talks at great length
- gawk
- stare openly
Don't gawk at me like that.
To look or perv at, not in a sexual way - gay
- 1 homosexual
Originally used by gays themselves, the word spread to the straight community and became a homophobic term of abuse, until reclaimed in the 1970s by the gay community.
standard english
2 uncool, daggy, socially unacceptable
Note that there is no sense of homosexuality involved.
That band is so gay.
What a gay haircut.
adolescent slang since the early 1990s
- gay and hearty
- a party
rhyming slang: gay and hearty for party
- gazunder
- 1 a chamber pot
Because it goes under the bed.
2 in cricket, a delivery that is low to the ground
Also called a mullygrubber.
cricket slang
- g'day
- good day
The ubiquitous friendly Aussie greeting.
recorded in this abbreviated form since the 1900s
Formerly used as an unabbreviated parting comment when the person leaving was annoyed. Still used today, but only in a joking way:
Good day to you sir!
G
- geek
- 1 a look
Taken from Cornish dialect.
I wanted to have a geek on the other side of a lot of hills – not only in Australia, but around the world.aussie slang dating from world warⅠ
2 a nerd or uncool person
From a British dialect, where it is a variant of geck – a fool.
assimilated into aussie slang in the 1980s
- gee up
- to excite or stir up
Her act really geed up the audience.
The vociferous crowd gave the players a gee up. - gent
- a maggot used for bait
- gemfish
- hake
- gestapo
- ticket inspectors
melbourne slang
- get a bag
- a derisive cry in cricket
Directed at a player who has dropped an easy catch.
cricket slang
- get amongst it
- to get actively and enthusiastically involved
It's time to hit the pub and get amongst it!
aussie slang since the 1960s
- get a wriggle on
- to hurry someone
Get a wriggle on or we'll be late
aussie slang since the 1940s
- get set
- to place a bet
aussie gambling slang since the 1910s
- get yourself outside of
- eat or drink something
Here, get yourself outside of this ice-cream.
G
- gibber
- 1 a small stone suitable for throwing
There are a number of similar words for this same item from all over the country, such as gonnie, all of which come from Aboriginal languages.
aboriginal language dharug spoken in the sydney region
2 a geological term
Gibbers are found covering the surface of parts of the arid inland. They are a pebble or stone of chalcedony, or other hard silica, covered with desert varnish (a dark coating composed of fine-grained minerals). A region covered with gibbers is called a gibber plain, gibber desert, or gibber country. The local rag in Woomera is called The Gibber Gabber. - gidgee
- a hand-held spear
Fired from a thick band of elastic, used in spearfishing.
aboriginal language nyungar spoken in south-western w.a. - gig
- 1 a police informer
Short for fizgig. Hence, a stickybeak or busybody.
aussie slang from the 1950s
2 to kid or tease
Are you gigging me?
aussie slang since the 1890s
3 a fool
Don't make a gig of yourself.
4 a look
Have a gig at this!
aussie slang from the 1920s
- gilgai
- a natural formation of mounds and depressions
Occuring in inland Australia, often forming a reservoir after heavy rain. - From the Aboriginal languages Wiradjuri and Kamilaroi.
- gilgie
- a native freshwater crayfish
Pronounced with an initial soft g.
Also spelt jilgie, and colloqualised as joogie.
See yabby for more information.
From the Aboriginal nation of Nyungar, or Nooongar, a constellation of peoples who live from Geraldton to Esperance in the south-west of WA.
aboriginal language nyungar spoken in south-western w.a. - ging
- a catapult or slingshot
Pronounced with an initial hard g.
Possibly imitative of the sound made when fired.
aussie slang from the 1930s - ginger
- 1 to steal from a client of a prostitute or their accomplice
- 2 the backside or bum
I gave him a swift kick up the ginger.
If someone is on your ginger, then they are chasing you.
rhyming slang: ginger ale for tail
- give it away
- to give up on something
I used to smoke, but I've given it away now.
aussie slang since the 1940s - give lip
- be cheeky
- give the game away
- 1 to abandon whatever it is you are doing
I can't fix this, I'm giving the game away.
2 to retire from an occupation
I used to be a lawyer but I gave the game away in 2000.
G
- gladdie
- a gladiolus
Made famous by Dame Edna Everidge.
Also shortened to glad.
aussie slang since the 1940s - glad rags
- best clothes
- glassed
- to be hit in the face by a drinking glass
Joe's in hospital, he got glassed at the pub last night. - glass
- ordering a glass of beer
What you will receive around the country.
WA ‧ SA ‧ Vic ‧ Tas ‧ Qld 7 fluid ounces/200ml Tas ‧ Qld Also called a seven SA A butcher NSW A glass of beer? What size? - aussie slang
- glassie
- a person employed by a pub or club
To remove used glasses and empty ashtrays.
G
- go
- 1any attempt
Especially a gutsy effort
I'll give anything a go.
Hence the great Aussie barracking cry:
Have a go ya mug!
2 a fight
Commonly found in a challenge to fisticuffs.
Do you want a go, mate?
Hence, as a verb, to attack:
I was itching to go him.
3 an opportunity
Here's a go!
4 to say
Common in the speech of schoolkids and ethnic Aussies.
So I go to him, ‘Shut up!’
5 to eat or drink with pleasure
I could really go a beer right now.
6 a goanna
An example of the Aussie penchant for abbreviation:
You should have seen the size of that go-go! - goal sneak
- a player who catches the opposition unawares and scores a goal
aussie rules slang - goanna
- a piano
rhyming slang: pianner for goanna
- gob
- the mouth
- gobful
- telling someone the unpleasant truth
She didn't want to hear, but I gave her a gobful anyway. - gobsmacked
- surprised, astounded
- goer
- energetic person, workable proposition
- godzone
- australia
Aussie contraction of God's Own Country. aussie slang - go for the doctor
- 1 to go as fast as possible
- 2 to bet all your money on a race
- 3 the moment when a jockey gets the whip out
With two furlongs remaining, Jim Cassidy goes for the doctor.
horseracing slang
- golly
- saliva and mucus collected in the mouth and spat out
- gone
- 1 pregnant
She's five months gone already.
2 ruined or undone
If he catches us we're gone.
aussie slang since the 1940s - gone a million
- completely and utterly undone, defeated
aussie slang since the 1910s
- gone to Gowings
- departed in great haste, destitute, drunk, hung-over, insane
Originally an advertising campaign for Gowing Brothers, a Sydney department store.
It consisted of witty cartoons of someone making a hasty departure with the explanation that they had gone to Gowings.
The store closed in 2006 after 138 years in business – so now Gowings is finally gone.
nsw slang from the 1940s - gonk
- a catapult or slingshot
northern n.s.w. slang - gone to the dogs
- changing from good to bad, to deteriorate
Metaphorically refering to an old horse sent to the knackers to become dog meat. - gonnie
- a small stone suitable for throwing
There are a number of similar words from all over the country for this same item, all of which come from Aboriginal languages. In Vic they have the brinnie, Qld has the
aboriginal australian languages 
queensland
south australia - gooby
- saliva and mucus collected in the mouth and spat out
- good oh
- very good, all right, okay
Everything was good oh. - good on ya
- good for you, well done, bravo
Often shortened to onya, or in the plural, onyas. - good sort
- an attractive female
Nowadays the term has been adopted by sheilas to refer to blokes.
aussie slang since the 1940s
- good trot
- a run of good luck
aussie slang since the 1940s
- good wicket
- an advantageous position
Two grand a week! He's on a good wicket. - go off
- 1 to be thrilling ❨at a party or similar event❩
The dance floor was really going off.
2 excellent waves ❨in the surf❩
Grab your board, Burleigh is going off.
3 to be raided by the police ❨of an illegal establishment❩
Hence, to be arrested.
underworld slang from the 1940s
4 to make a proper run ❨of a racehorse❩
After being previously held back to give an impression of poor form in order to obtain better odds.
racing slang
- goog
- an egg
Originally from Scotland, also called a googy or googy-egg.
Pronounced with a short vowel, as in good. - goom
- methylated spirits drunk by alcoholics
Hence a goomie is a person addicted to methylated spirits.
See metho for more.
first recorded in the 1960s, perhaps from an aboriginal language
- goon
- a flagon of wine
From flagoon, a jocular pronunciation of flagon.
Inexpensive wine, often plonk, now usually sold in a cardboard cask See red ned for more information.
aussie slang from the 1980s
- goon bag ∼ goon sack
- the silver bladder
Inside a wine cask - goon juice
- cask wine mixed with a soft drink
- govie ∼ guvvie
- goverment funded housing
Now often privately owned.
act slang
G
- graft
- hard work
Hence, grafter, a hard worker
aussie slang since the 1890s
- Granny
- 1 an affectionate name for the sydney morning herald
Originally derisive, back in 1851
2 a granny smith apple
I had a Granny at lunch today. - grass castle
- a large mansion
Paid for from the proceeds of marijuana growing. - great Australian adjective
- the word bloody used as an intensifier
aussie slang since the 1890s
- Great Barrier Reef
- the world's largest structure created by living creatures
- green & gold
- the australian international sporting colours
From our national floral emblem, the golden wattle.
She was proud to wear the green and gold.
proclaimed by the governor-general on 19 april 1984
- green giant
- a one hundred dollar note
- greenie
- an enviromentalist
The association of green with enviromentalism first appeared in England in the early 1970s in the name Greenpeace.
The addition of ie to form a noun was an Aussie contribution.
aussie diminutive - grey
- 1 a grey kangaroo
- 2 a double-headed or double-tailed penny
Used to cheat in the game of two-up.
convict slang from 1812
- grey ghost
- a parking inspector
So called because of their grey uniform.
vic ‧ nsw ‧ wa slang
- grey nomad
- an older person, often retired, who travels extensively within australia
Especially by campervan, caravan, or the like. - grizzle
- to complain
- grog
- alcohol
Originally British naval slang referring to watered down rum.
I'm going to have a few grogs with my old mates. In 1740 Admiral Vernon (nicknamed Old Grog, from grognam, the material his cloak was made from) ordered water to be issued with sailors rum.
When made illicitly it is known as sly grog To be on the grog is to be on a drinking spree. To grog on is to take part in a piss-up. A heavy drinker is known as a grog artist
aussie slang since the 1830s
- grommet
- a young, inexperienced surfer
Also shortened to grom or grommie. Also called a gremmie, from gremlin, and now used by snowboarders for novices.
surfie slang since the 1980s
- grot
- dirty or untidy person
- grouse
- great, terrific, very good
We had a grouse time, but now it's back to work.
aussie slang since the 1920s
- grouter ∼ to come in on the grouter
- to arrive after the work is finished
Because laying the grout is the last job to get done when tiling.
Hence, to be lucky, to have things fall your way.
Notice how the bludger always manages to come in on the grouter. Used in a disparaging way by those who haven't had the luck. - grundies
- underwear
rhyming slang: reg grundy for undies
G
- gumi
- a raft made of tyre inner tubes
There is an annual gumi race down the Murrumbidgee River.
Interestingly, the word gumi is pidgin English for rubber. - gummies
- gumboots, wellington boots
- gumtree
- an australian eucalypt
So named from its gummy sap.
Used in various slang expressions such as:
Up a gumtree
Meaning in all sorts of strife
Mad as a gumtree full of galahs.
Meaning stark raving bonkers.
first used by captain james cook in 1770
- guernsey ∼ get a guernsey
- win selection, recognition, approbation
Originally, to be selected for a football team. - gun
- 1 a champion shearer
Hence, a champion at anything
2 a large surfboard for riding big waves - 3 to rev an engine
Hence, to drive at great speed.
aussie slang since the 1890s
- gunna
- going to do something
When are you gunna do the dishes? - gunyah
- a small rough hut or shelter in the bush
Traditionally made by Aboriginal people of boughs and bark.dharug language ganya: house, hut
- gurgler ∼ down the gurgler
- something that is lost irrevocably
- gutful of piss
- drunk
- gutless wonder
- an immense coward
Used in America since the 1930s.aussie slang since the 1950s
- guts
- essential information
We need to get to the guts of the matter.digger slang from world war Ⅰ
- guts ∼ drop your guts
- to fart
- gut ∼ spill one's guts
- confess
- gutzer ∼ come a gutzer
- fall over heavily, the failure of a scheme
The term originated amongst swimmers as descriptive of a dive in which the diver instead of striking the water with hands, head or feet first strikes with his stomach. - gyno
- gynaecologist