spud n.3
1. a potato.
![[NZ]](/static/img/flags/nz.png "New Zealand") | Adventure in N.Z. I 319: Pigs and potatoes were respectively represented by ‘grunters’ and ‘spuds’. | |
![[Aus]](/static/img/flags/aus.png "Australia") | Bell’s Life in Sydney 12 Feb. 2/7: He used to vend ‘spuds’ and he had got into such a habit of selling the taters with his shirt-sleeves rucked up. | |
![[US]](/static/img/flags/us.png "United States") | diary 2 June in Gosnell Before the Mast (1989) 44: Galley Talk. Cook give us that ‘’orse’ & the ‘spuds’. | |
![[UK]](/static/img/flags/uk.png "United Kingdom") | ‘A Political Litany’ in Curiosities of Street Lit. (1871) 76: There arose in the land of Spuds tribes of men who call themselves Feenanites. | |
| Knocking About in N.Z. 68: We determined to get some dried apples, make a good duff, and put on a pot of spuds. | |
| in Living London (1883) May 186: I find ‘Spuddy’ given as a seller of bad potatoes, while ‘spuds’ are defined as a low-life term for raw potatoes. | |
| Recoll. Sea-Wanderer 289: There are other terms in common use in the cabin and cook's galley [...] Potatoes are spuds, rice is swampseed, beans are tornadoes, snappers or band of music, and bean soup is snapper soup. | |
| ‘Board and Residence’ in Roderick (1972) 174: Dinner [...] three new spuds, of which the largest is about the size of an ordinary hen’s egg. | |
| Blackburn Wkly Standard 3 Dec. 10/2: He says, ‘You can’t go now. You must clear th’ spuds orf ther front board’. | |
| Marvel 21 Dec. 15: Dont be stingi wid the spuds! | |
| Maison De Shine 162: Gimme a few o’ them spuds. | |
| Sport (Adelaide) 31 Jan. 10/1: A.H., the spud hawker, must have a lot of trouble with his fruit and vegetables . | |
| in Yank Talk 10: The boys line up for chow, And soon the slum and spuds will say, ‘We’re in the army now!’. | |
| ‘Bob the Baker and British Breeding’ in Roderick (1972) 924: I [...] was promoted to spud-peeling when the spud-peeler-in-chief got drunk at Melbourne. | |
| ‘Chicken Soup’ in Milk and Honey Route 126: They were cooking in the jungle / Where the lonely chickens stray, / And I frisked some spuds and onions / Just to pass the time away. | |
| Bluey & Curley 5 June [synd. cartoon strip] The cooks [...] use submarines to dive to the bottom of the pots to see if the spuds are cooked. | |
| An Indiscreet Guide to Soho 44: Great potato-eaters, they were! Why, we thought nothing of selling 25 tons of spuds a week! | |
| From Here to Eternity (1998) 40: Before the kitchen screen-door, sitting in the sun, was a KP peeling spuds. | |
| Long and the Short and the Tall Act II: They were giving us fruit salad twice a day and dehydrated spuds. | |
| Cop This Lot 44: Only thing I can’t take is spuds fer breakfast. | |
| Enderby Outside in Complete Enderby (2002) 367: A grumbling huddle of boiled spuds. | |
| All Bull 34: The food in the cookhouse [...] had become becalmed on a diet of spuds, canned meat and cabbage. | |
| Down and Out 36: I peeled a ton of spuds in that fucking kitchen. | |
| Lockie Leonard: Scumbuster (1995) 141: A mouthful of mashed spud. | |
| A Few Kind Words and a Loaded Gun 279: It was a lovely punch and he went down like a sack of spuds. | |
| Life 525: Before you spread the spuds on top, you chop up some more onions. | |
 | ‘The Gleaner’s Union’ in ThugLit Sept./Oct. [ebook] Cora sat by the stove, skinning spuds. | |
| Tales of the Honey Badger [ebook] I went down like a sack of spuds. |
2. (W.I.) a ripe banana.
![[WI]](/static/img/flags/wi.png "West Indies") | cited in Dict. Jam. Eng. (1980). |
3. a nickname for an Irishman [note 19C US little potato skin, an Irish child].
| (con. WWI) Soldier and Sailor Words 267: Spud: An Irishman. | |
| Und. Speaks. | |
| A Steady Rain I i: You might think it, but that seminar ain’t gonna make one fly shit fleck of difference [...] ’cause you’re the wrong fuckin’ color, spud. | |
| Twitter 2 Mar. 🌐 Welcome aboard, chum! In fairness, you've done more than most of us to protect Irish heritage - you're an honorary spud already, Neil. |
4. any person.
| Sun (NY) 9 Sept. 1/3: The warm spud looked at me out of a pair of big, round, blue lamps. | |
| Travels of Tramp-Royal 93: Though the auld missus may have been overfond of a mouthful [...] she was a real good spud otherwise. | |
| I, Fatty 182: He was asking if you’re the spud who made her a mother. |
5. (US Und.) a revolver; a pistol.
| et al. DAUL 205/1: Spud. (Obs.) A pistol or revolver. |
6. (N.Z. teen/US) a general term of abuse.
| Paco’s Story (1987) 154: Hey, spud, next time y’all come to the field, bring something with you. | |
| ‘Mash It Up Harry’ 🎵 Don’t call Harry a human potato, don’t call Harry a spud. | |
| ‘No Through Road’ in Crime Factory: Hard Labour [ebook] It’s a fucken collectible, you spud. |
7. (US) a child, a young person.
| Rivethead (1992) 118: We weren’t carefree spuds any more. We were thirtyfuckin’something. |
8. (N.Z. prison) a M?ori prison officer seen as treating white inmates better than M?oris [they are ‘brown on the outside but white on the inside’].
| Boobslang [U. Canterbury D.Phil. thesis] 175/1: spud n. 1 a M?ori prison officer perceived as treating P?keh? inmates more fairly and generously than M?ori inmates. |
9. see potato n. (3)
In compounds
one who peels potatoes, thus spud-barbering, potato peeling.
| Dly Examiner (Grafton, NSW) 18 Feb. 4/4: [T]heir training of six to twelve months [...] in the Coastal Battalion, compared with the ‘Diggers,’ six to eight weeks or less, mostly ‘Spud Barbering’ at Liverpool. | |
| Australiasian (Melbourne) 22 Oct. 49/3: ‘Mv first collar was off-side cook and spud barber at a tank-sinking ‘caper’. | |
![[Can]](/static/img/flags/can.png "Canada") | Leader-Post (Regina, Saskatchewan) 8 Aug. 29/3: A cooky gets abused by all, fro the captain down to the lowest spud barber. | |
| Und. Speaks n.p.: Spud barber, a potato peeler (prison). | |
| Press (Canterbury) 2 Apr. 18: [A] ‘spud barber’ was on cook-house fatigue. | |
| Behind Bamboo 399/1: Spud barber, a potato peeler. | |
| (con. 1936–46) Winged Seeds (1984) 351: Oh, well, afterwards I was a good spud-barber. | |
| Wausau Dly Herald (WI) 16 Apr. 4/6: In the New Zealand army a ‘spud barber’ is a soldier asigned to KP, peeling potatoes. | |
| Reed Dict. of N.Z. Sl. 198: spud-barber The potato peeler, originally in the army, WWI. |
the activity of peeling potatoes.
| ‘I Had to Go Sick’ in Memoirs of the Forties (1984) 258: I got out quick before he gave me scrubbing or spud-bashing. | |
| Derby Dly Teleg. 7 Sept. 6/3: A British Company [i.e. of soldiers] has adopted two Korean youths and put them to work in the cookhouse [...] They were soon hard at it ‘spud-bashing’. | |
| Picture Post 13 Nov. 60: But fatigues of the old-fashioned, spud-bashing type, are becoming rarer. | |
| Chips with Everything II iv: Anything from dishwashing to salvage, from spud-bashing to coal-heaving. | |
| Observer (London) 22 Oct. 39/2: A chance to get [...] the chaps to learn something [...] more skilled than spud-bashng. | |
| Palm Beach Post (FL) 27 May F6/5: Potato-peeling was cited in 1940 as spud-bashing. | |
| Guardian 29 Mar. 88/4: You’re not a spud-bashing squaddie. | |
| Empty Wigs (t/s) 426: ‘Nothing I don’t know about spud bashing. What they made us do for jankers’. |
a native or inhabitant of Prince Edward Island, Canada.
| ‘A Taste of Canada’ on Rockies.net 🌐 The most famous ‘Spud Islander’ (PEI’s nickname comes from its potato farming) has to be Lucy Maud Montgomery, the author of Anne of Green Gables. |
1. any form of illegally distilled alcohol, based on potatoes, e.g. poteen [juice n.1 (3a)] .
| Pittsburgh Dly Post (PA) 6 Mar. 13/6: It is not spuds but spud juice that makes the Irish seek glory in the trenches [...] The juice of the potatoes is poteen. | |
| Lansing State Jrnl (MI) 5 Feb. 9/2: A quarrel developed after the group had engaged in a ‘spud juice’ drinking spree. | |
| World’s News (Sydney) 12 Mar. 31/1: Seen a bloke once pretty crook on drinkin’ home-brewed spud juice and metho. | |
| Lansing State Jrnl (MI) 5 May 8/4: Outsiders probably haven’t heart of ‘spud juice’ — a potent concoction of potatoes, yeast, sugar and water. | |
| (con. 1960s) Black Gangster (1991) 13: I got some good spud-juice lined up. | |
| Battle Creek Enquirer (MI) 9 June 13/1: Inamtes high on ‘spud juice’ [...] involved in an outbreak iof violence. |
2. semen [juice n.1 (2)].
| Roger’s Profanisaurus in Viz 87 Dec. n.p.: tatty water (ta-tee-wa-ta) n. Spud juice; semen. Literally – potato water. | |
| Get Your Cock Out 60: Battering all mighty hell out of their monkey spanners in appreciation of a lady’s charms and squirting their watery spud juice all down their crusty pants. |
(Aus.) a peasant.
| Bulletin (Sydney) 15 Oct. 13/1: The doctor mounted his chariot, and followed in the wake of the spud-miner’s go car. |
(Aus.) an Irishman, a Roman Catholic.
| (con. 1943) Irish Fandango [ebook] ‘Jesus Christ, go and get fucked, you spud-munching prick’. |
fish and chips.
| Marvel 21 Dec. 15: I mooched in 2 Missis Murfy’s an ad sum moar spuds and swimmers. |
thin, watery semen.
| Urban Dict. 🌐 gods salad dressing spunk, spaff, jism, baby gravy, mucky spud water, gentlemans relish. need i say more. |
In phrases
(Aus. teen) to receive a beating.
| (con. 1960s-70s) Top Fellas 29/1: Occasionally one of the gang-busters found himself in the wrong place [...] and got his spuds cooked but good. |
pregnant.
| There Ain’t No Justice 245: You mean she’s in the spud line? |
the testicles.
| Roger’s Profanisaurus in Viz 87 Dec. n.p.: love spuds euph. A root vegetable found in the shreddies (qv); knackers. | |
| Twitter 26 Aug. 🌐 [‘speaker’ is a dog] When they kidnap my love spuds they’ll do a biopsy on my nose. |