Australian slang starting with W

104 Aussie words and phrases beginning with W: from waddy to wurley.

• waddyAn Aboriginal wooden club used as a weapon; by extension, any heavy stick or cudgel.
• wagTo play truant from school.
• waggaA makeshift blanket or quilt made from hessian bags or flour sacks sewn together.
• wake-upA shrewd, alert person who isn't easily fooled; to 'be a wake-up to' someone is to see through them.
• wake up to yourselfStop being stupid; come to your senses.
• walerA horse bred in Australia, originally in New South Wales, especially one exported as a cavalry remount; the…
• walk-up startAn easy win, a certainty, or a very easy task.
• walkaboutA period of travel on foot through the bush undertaken by an Aboriginal person. Informally, 'gone walkabout'…
• wallabyAny of various smaller members of the kangaroo family. 'On the wallaby (track)' formerly meant travelling…
• wallarooA large, stocky kangaroo of rocky and hilly country; also called a euro.
• walloperA police officer.
• wallumLow coastal heathland on sandy soils, with banksias and scrubby shrubs, in south-east Queensland and…
• Wally GroutA shout; your turn to buy a round of drinks.
• wandooA white-barked eucalypt (Eucalyptus wandoo) of south-western Western Australia, with very hard, durable…
• wanker vulgarA contemptible, pretentious or self-important person.
• waratahAn Australian shrub with large, bright red flower heads; the floral emblem of New South Wales.
• warbA dirty, scruffy or unkempt person; originally an unskilled labourer. Someone or something shabby is 'warby'.
• wardsmanA male hospital orderly or attendant who moves patients and equipment around the wards.
• warrigalA dingo. A wild or untamed horse; by extension, a wild person.
• warrigal greensA native spinach-like plant of coastal sand and riverbanks (Tetragonia tetragonoides), eaten as a cooked…
• Warwick FarmsArms.
• water bagA canvas bag that keeps drinking water cool by evaporation, traditionally hung on the front of a vehicle or…
• wattleAny of the many Australian acacia trees and shrubs, known for their fluffy yellow flowers. Golden wattle is…
• Wattle DayA day celebrating the wattle as a national symbol, now held on 1 September.
• wattlebirdAny of several large Australian honeyeaters, some of which have fleshy wattles hanging from the cheeks.
• wattleseedThe roasted and ground seed of certain wattles, used as a bush food with a nutty, coffee-like flavour.
• waxheadA surfer, especially a dedicated one.
• WazzaA familiar form of the name Warren.
• weak as piss vulgarFeeble, spineless or cowardly. Of a drink, very weak.
• weatherboardA house clad in overlapping horizontal timber boards; also used as an adjective, as in 'a weatherboard house'.
• weebillA tiny yellowish-brown bird with a short, stubby bill; Australia's smallest bird.
• weedy seadragonA leafy-looking fish related to the seahorse, found only in southern Australian waters; the marine emblem of…
• weekenderA holiday house, usually near the coast or in the country, used mainly on weekends.
• Welcome to CountryA ceremony or speech by a Traditional Owner welcoming visitors to their land, given at the start of an…
• well inWell off; prosperous.
• welterIn 'make a welter of it', to overdo something or carry it to excess.
• westie derogatoryA person from the western suburbs of a city, especially Sydney, stereotyped as uncouth or working-class.
• WestraliaWestern Australia; a person from there is a Westralian.
• WetThe wet season in northern Australia, roughly November to April, with monsoonal rain and storms ('the Wet').
• wettieA wetsuit.
• whackerAn idiot; a fool.
• whackoAn exclamation of delight or approval.
• wharfieA waterside worker; a dock worker.
• what's the goWhat's happening? What's the plan?
• wheatbeltThe broad inland farming region where wheat and other grains are the main crops, especially in Western…
• where the crow flies backwardsA very remote place; the back of beyond.
• whingeTo complain persistently, especially in a whining way. Also a noun, as in 'having a whinge'.
• whingeing Pom derogatoryAn English person regarded as constantly complaining, especially about Australia.
• whip the catTo reproach oneself; to regret something bitterly.
• whipbirdAn eastern Australian bird of forest and thick scrub whose call ends in a sharp crack like a stockwhip…
• whipper snipperA motorised garden tool with a spinning nylon cord for trimming grass and weeds along edges; a string trimmer.
• whipsLots; plenty, as in 'whips of time'.
• white-antTo undermine a person, plan or organisation from within, especially secretly.
• White Australia policyThe laws and practices, from Federation in 1901 until they were dismantled between the late 1940s and 1973…
• white ChristmasA no-bake slice made from puffed rice cereal, dried fruit, coconut and milk powder set in melted copha…
• white leghornA woman lawn bowler.
• white maggotAn Australian rules football field umpire.
• white pointerThe great white shark.
• white pointersTopless female sunbathers.
• white shoe brigadeA group of wealthy, conservative Queensland property developers and businessmen, especially on the Gold…
• white-tailed spiderA slender dark Australian spider with a white spot at the tip of its abdomen, often found in houses; its…
• whitefellaA white person; a non-Aboriginal person. Used especially in Aboriginal English.
• whole box and diceEverything; the whole lot.
• who's robbing this coachMind your own business; keep out of this.
• wickyIn cricket, a wicketkeeper.
• wide brown landAustralia, especially its vast, dry interior. Used fondly or with a touch of irony.
• widgieA young woman of the 1950s youth subculture associated with the bodgies, known for distinctive clothes and…
• wigwam for a goose's bridleA nonsense answer given to a nosy question, especially a child's question about what something is.
• wild dogIn Australia, a dingo, a feral domestic dog or a hybrid of the two, especially as a killer of livestock.
• wilgaA small drought-hardy tree (Geijera parviflora) of inland eastern Australia, with drooping foliage, often…
• willie wagtailA small black-and-white Australian fantail bird, noted for constantly wagging its tail from side to side.
• willy-willyA whirlwind or dust devil, especially in the dry inland; sometimes used of a tropical cyclone.
• windcheaterA fleecy, long-sleeved pullover; a sweatshirt.
• witches' hatsTraffic cones.
• witchetty grubThe large, white, edible larva of certain moths, found in the roots of some acacias and eaten as bush tucker.
• with the lotWith every available topping or extra, especially of a hamburger with beetroot, egg, bacon, pineapple and…
• wobbegongA carpet shark of Australian coastal waters, with a flattened, mottled body and a fringe of fleshy tassels…
• Wollemi pineA rare conifer found in 1994 in a remote gorge of Wollemi National Park, New South Wales, previously known…
• womaA python of arid and semi-arid Australia, banded in shades of brown and orange.
• wombatA burrowing, thickset marsupial with short legs, found in south-eastern Australia.
• wombat crossingA pedestrian crossing built on a raised hump in the road, so that it also acts as a speed bump.
• wompooA large, brilliantly coloured fruit-dove of the rainforests of eastern and northern Australia and New Guinea.
• wonga pigeonA large, plump grey-and-white pigeon of eastern Australian forests, known for its long, monotonous call.
• wood and water joeyA station hand or rouseabout kept on to do odd jobs such as chopping wood and carting water. Dated.
• wood duckA grey-brown Australian duck (Chenonetta jubata) that grazes on land and nests in tree hollows; also called…
• WoodbineIn First World War Australian soldiers' slang, an English soldier.
• wool chequeThe money a grazier receives from the sale of the year's wool clip.
• WooliesWoolworths, the supermarket chain.
• woollybuttAny of several eucalypts with thick, fibrous bark on the lower trunk and smooth bark on the upper branches.
• woolshedThe large shed on a sheep station where the sheep are shorn and the wool is classed, pressed and baled; a…
• woomeraAn Aboriginal spear-thrower, a notched stick used to launch a spear with greater force.
• woop woopAn imaginary remote, backward place; the middle of nowhere.
• working beeA gathering of volunteers who give their time to a shared job, such as tidying a school, club or church…
• wouldn't be dead for quidsI'm feeling great and very glad to be alive.
• wouldn't give you a fright if he was a ghostSaid of a very stingy person.
• wouldn't have a bar ofTo refuse to tolerate, accept or have anything to do with someone or something.
• wouldn't itAn exclamation of annoyance or disgust, short for longer forms such as 'wouldn't it rot your socks'.
• wouldn't know him from a bar of soapTo not know someone at all.
• wouldn't shout if a shark bit himSaid of someone extremely mean who never buys a round of drinks.
• wouldn't work in an iron lungSaid of an extremely lazy person.
• wowserA puritanical person who disapproves of drinking, gambling and other pleasures; a killjoy.
• woylieThe brush-tailed bettong, a small, endangered rat-kangaroo now found mainly in south-western Australia.
• wrap your laughing gear around thisEat this; get this into you. 'Laughing gear' is the mouth.
• wurleyAn Aboriginal shelter made of branches, bark and leaves; a humpy.