illywhacker

illywhacker
In Australian English an illywhacker (or illywacker) is a small-time confidence trickster. The origin of the term is unknown. Sidney Baker in The Australian Language (1945) suggested that the first part of the word may be a corruption of spieler. Our earliest written evidence for the term occurs in Kylie Tennant's The Battlers (1941): An illy-wacker is someone who is putting a confidence trick over, selling imitation diamond pins, new-style patent razors or infallible 'tonics'... 'living on the cockies' by such devices, and following the shows because money always flows freest at show time. A man who 'wacks the illy' can be almost anything, but two of these particular illy-wackers were equipped with a dart game. This is a term which was becoming obsolescent in Australian English, but it was given new life when Peter Carey used it as the title of his 1985 novel. In that novel, we find the following passage: What's an illywhacker?'... 'A spieler.. a trickster. A quandong. A ripperty man. A con-man.

Australian idioms. 2014.

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  • illywhacker — Australian Slang 1. stick for smacking a child with (not allowed to do anymore); 2. con merchant; 3. con artist; trickster …   English dialects glossary

  • illywhacker — n. (Slang) con artist; small time trickster …   English contemporary dictionary

  • illywhacker — [ ɪlɪˌwakə] noun Austral. informal, dated a confidence trickster. Origin 1940s: of unknown origin …   English new terms dictionary

  • illywhacker — /ˈɪliwækə / (say ileewakuh) noun a confidence man; trickster. Also, illywacker. {obsolete British thieves slang whack the illy to perform a confidence trick; ? from eelie, from eelerspee, back slang from spieler} …  

  • illywhacker — n. Austral. sl. a professional trickster. Etymology: 20th c.: orig. unkn …   Useful english dictionary

  • Кэри, Питер — Питер Кэри Peter Carey Дата рождения: 7 мая 1943(1943 05 07) (69 лет) Место рождения: Бакшус Марш, Австралия Гражданство …   Википедия

  • The Age Book of the Year — Awards are annual literary awards presented by Melbourne s The Age newspaper. The awards were first presented in 1974. Since 1998 they have been presented as part of the Melbourne Writers Festival. Initially, two awards were given, one for… …   Wikipedia

  • Peter Carey — (als Peter Philip Carey; * 7. Februar 1943 in Bacchus Marsh, Victoria) ist ein australischer Schriftsteller. Er begann seine Karriere mit Werbetexten, veröffentlichte 1974 erste Erzählungen und 1981 seinen ersten Roman. Inzwischen gilt er als… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

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