Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. constr. with on, to evade one’s responsibilities, to bring down the reputation of an institution by shirking.

1899		Truth (Sydney) 12 Mar. 1/7: What else could they expect from the gang who bludge on cricket in Sydney [AND].
1910		Truth (Sydney) 27 Mar. 5/1: The scallywags and scoundrels, skunks and scabs, who batten and bludge on the Bush-workers’ broadsheet in Bathurst street [AND].
1919		W.H. Downing Digger Dialects 12: bludge on the flag — To fail to justify one’s existence as a soldier.
1924		(con. WWI) A.G. Pretty Gloss. of Sl. [...] in the A.I.F. 1921–1924 (rev. t/s) n.p.: bludged on the flag. To fail to justify ones [sic] existence as a soldier.

2. to live on the earnings of a prostitute; thus bludging.

1903		Truth (Sydney) 20 Dec. 5/3: The increasing number of these fellows [...] togged up in fine linen and fashionable clothes, procured with sin-money wrung from die unfortunate females upon whom they bludge, is a disgrace [AND].
c.1907		W.C. Chandler Darkest Adelaide 16: Until recently Connolly was bludging at Broken Hill on a frail creature named Bessie Connors [AND].
1908		Truth (Brisbane) 2 Aug. 9/7: Brothel-keepin bludgin varlets / They do boast about the place.
1910		Truth (Sydney) 20 Feb. 7/4: The brother ‘bludges’ on his sister [...] A vile fellow who lives on the prostitution of his own sister [AND].
1977		(con. 1941) R. Beilby Gunner 10: In Egypt, the Egypt of the brothels and bars [...] bludging and pimping were recognized professions.
1996		(con. 1950s) in P. Doyle Get Rich Quick (2004) 12: Little jim’s opinion that i was a ‘cheeky bodgie prick who had shirked his war duty and now was bludging off women’.

3. to loaf about, to idle; thus bludging adj.

1909		Truth (Perth) 16 Jan. 3/7: That the ways of the wicked are not altogether unremunerative was demonstrated by the fact that this bludging ‘bloke’ was able to retain Jacky Hare and Cliff Penny to defend him, but it was of no avail.
1914		Sydney Sportsman (Surry Hills, NSW) 13 May 3/2: The bludging mobs / What do hang about street corners — / sneakin’, useless, rotten swabs.
1941		K. Tenant ‘A Bargain’ in Mann Coast to Coast 41: Why, you dirty, rotten, bludging, little mongrel!
1953		T.A.G. Hungerford Riverslake 226: I don’t know whether I hate them or pity them [...] with their right to strike and rest and bludge.
1965		J. O’Grady Aussie Eng. (1966) 14: The worst kind of all is the ‘useless bludgin’ bastard’.
1965		W. Dick Bunch of Ratbags 47: ‘Sit down, yer bludgin’ little dog,’ he screamed. [Ibid.] 205: I [...] started drinking the cup of tea hurriedly, so the boss would not know I was bludging.
1973		(con. 1930s) F. Huelin ‘Keep Moving’ 18: ‘You hoboes have been in town long enough,’ said the senior man. ‘Yous’ll have to get out [...] We’re not having yous bludging around the town.’.
1986		R. Beckett Dinkum Aussie Dict. 9: Bludge: To loaf.
1989		R.G. Barrett Boys from Binjiwunyawunya 193: Most of the pinches are just rorts [...] so they can pay the wages for all the bludging public servants in this state.
1998		Bug (Aus.) 16 Aug. 🌐 I just felt that having a spew at halftime and bludging for a third of the game on the blind wing were integral parts of the complete game plan.
1999		G. Seal Lingo 59: To bludge, while not originating with the soldiers, certainly attained the momentum that still propels it in current Lingo. A ‘bludger’ was 19th-century British slang for a man who lived off the earnings of a prostitute. It was also used in Australia with this sense. The soldiers’ contribution seems to be the disengagement of the term from most, if not all, of its underworld associations and the use of it in the two modern senses of doing nothing, lazing about and to borrow, as in to bludge a fag.
2001		Sydney Morning Herald (Aus.) 6 Jan. n.p.: So here’s a tentative guide to Sydney teenspeak: [...] Bludgin’ (hanging out).
2001		(con. 1945–6) P. Doyle Devil’s Jump (2008) 29: Don’t let yourself be conned by any of those bludging tenants.
2009		P. Temple Truth 104: For Bob, not getting things right was bludging, slackarse behaviour, not paying attention.

4. (also bludge on) to cadge, to scrounge (from); also as bludge in, to gatecrash; thus bludging adj., scrounging.

1941		K. Tennant Battlers 173: ‘Hey, Jim, here’s a copper’s grave’. ‘Well, don’t clear none of the weeds away from him,’ I says. ‘He’s bludged on bagmen all his life.’.
1949		L. Glassop Lucky Palmer 155: I remember you when you was peddling three-place cards at Bindarra and bludging round the pubs.
1953		I. Hamilton Till Human Voices Wake Us 20: Let them bludge their way through life, any way they want.
1957		‘Nino Culotta’ They’re a Weird Mob (1958) 204: He fears no one, crawls to no one, bludges on no one, and acknowledges no master.
1959		G. Slatter Gun in My Hand 47: Trying to bludge in on their party he was.
1962		P. White Season at Sarsaparilla in Four Plays (1965) 97: Some dirty, no-hope truck-driver! I don’t see why you’re gunna let ’im bludge on us!
1963–74		B. Humphries Barry McKenzie [comic strip] in Complete Barry McKenzie (1988) 93: He’s over there whingeing because he can’t bludge a drink off Kev.
1965		W. Dick Bunch of Ratbags 138: I’d been bludgin’ a couple of bob around the pubs.
1977		in K. Gilbert Living Black 241: Those bludging little birds. [Ibid.] 250: All they want to do is get their money and go down the town and get drunk or bludge something off somebody.
1982		H. Beaton Outside In Act II: We spend the whole fucken time bludgin’ filters off the dipsticks that come.
1996		K. Lette Mad Cows 244: Me and this rock are just about to bludge the bus fare to the Thames.
1998		P. Doyle (con. late 1950s) Amaze Your Friends (2019) 155: Charles [...] tried to teach me the ins and outs of bludging.
2003		McGill Reed Dict. of N.Z. Sl. [as cit. 1988].
2004		L. Redhead Peepshow [ebook] A man at the table next to me was smoking Peter Jacksons and I was considering bludging one.
2008		R. Fortey Dry Store Room No. 1 153: In nature, it is always an attractive option to bludge a living, as an Australian might say.
2023		D. Whish-Wilson I Am Already Dead 109: [H]e’d raised suspicions with his willingness to bludge drinks off Laver.