dunny, n.² — Green’s Dictionary of Slang

dunny n.²

also dunnee

(Aus./N.Z.)

1. any lavatory; also attrib.; thus dunny cart, a vehicle used to remove excrement; dunny man, a night-soil cleaner; dunny roll, lavatory paper.

1938		X. Herbert Capricornia (1939) 445: Chineeman him no-more jiggel — him no-more lat belonga dunny.
1948		S.L. Elliott Rusty Bugles I i: You wasn’t here when the dunny blew up.
1954		(con. 1940s) T.A.G. Hungerford Sowers of the Wind 69: I’d get hit on the head with the handle of the dunny door. The blasted bunny, that’s me!
1959		D. Hewett Bobbin Up (1961) 74: I want to go to the dunny.
1962		C. Rohan Delinquents 137: How is the dunny? [...] Does it have a chain?
1963–74		B. Humphries Barry McKenzie [comic strip] in Complete Barry McKenzie (1988) 21: I forgot to ask my new friends where the dunnee is.
1965		F.J. Hardy Yarns of Billy Borker 68: Here’s six more raffle books. Go and lock yourself in the dunny and fill out every ticket in my name.
1967		‘Whisper All Aussie Dict.’ in Kings Cross Whisper (Sydney) xxxiv 4/4: dunny cart: A country night soil cart.
1979		Lette & Carey Puberty Blues 2: We were also busting to go to the dunny, but that was too rude for girls.
1985		B. Humphries Traveller’s Tool 20: Having a quiet smoke in an all-night dunny.
1986		T. Winton That Eye, The Sky 103: The empty bit of dunny roll.
1990		T. Winton Human Torpedo 16: Boys’ dunnies smell the same anywhere.
1999		G. Seal Lingo 78: Widely lingoised as the sanny or sano man, this fast-disappearing trade is also known as the night man or simply the dunny man who comes to take the nightsoil away.
2001		Observer Escape 4 Mar. 3: A highly indigenous-sounding [...] self-penned poem about dunnies.
2007		D. McDonald Luck in the Greater West (2008) 7: Can I use ya dunny?
2012		D. Whish-Wilson ‘In Savage Freedom’ in Crime Factory: Hard Labour [ebook] Two new sleeping bags, dunny paper, some cash in a bum-bag.
2016		Facebook 15 July 🌐 No dramas tonight but, and I lit up a durry, thought about my hard yakka and headed to the dunny.
2020		D. Whish-Wilson Shore Leave 72: ‘I ran into him comin out of the dunny’.

2. an outside lavatory or privy; also attrib.

1946		D. Stivens Courtship of Uncle Henry 149–50: It’s hot up in the mallee and they put the dunny well away from the house.
1960		N. Hilliard Maori Girl 19: She delighted in giving cheek to the boys and taking refuge in the girls’ dunny.
1974		D. Ireland Burn 57: The six huts, dunny holes.
1980		M. Bail Homesickness (1999) 162: We had never, hum, seen one of your dunnies before.
1996		Penguin Bk of More Aus. Jokes 446: [He decided] to build himself a little dunny right over the 500 m shaft. Why waste a good hole?
2001		Observer Escape 4 Mar. 14: The ‘dunny’ [...] was ‘a good old-fashioned long-drop’ – a hole in the ground two minutes tramp through long, soaking grass.
2004		T. Winton ‘Family’ in Turning (2005) 184: The day at school when he shat himself and was locked in the dunnies.
2014		me-stepmums-too-fuckin-hot-mate at www.fakku.net 🌐 Blokes’ Dunny.

In compounds

dunny-brush (n.)

(Aus.) a term of abuse.

1982

O. Marshall ‘The Master of Big Jingles’ in Ace of Diamonds Gang (1993) 17: What a dunny brush he turned out to be.

dunny budgie (n.) [facet. use of budgie n.²; i.e. the size or noisiness of the flies is reminiscent of the bird]

(Aus.) a fly.

1990		E. Hoffman Adventuring in Aus. 468: dunny budgie, a fly.
2000		E. Kanze Kangaroo Dreaming 78: ‘You’re interested in birds,’ he said, nodding toward the insect. ‘Have you made the acquaintance of the dunny budgie?’.
2002		Larry’s Aussie Sl. and Phrase Dict. 🌐 Dunny budgie a fly.
2003		McGill Reed Dict. of N.Z. Sl.

Dunny Door (n.)

(Aus.) a Holden Commodore, built in Aus. 1978-2020.

2007		www.aulro.com 14 Mar. 🌐 A Dunny Door Question I have fitted a 5 speed getrag manual gearbox out of a V8 VT Commodore to the back of my V12 Jag engine.
2011		www.carsguide.com.au 21 Jan. 🌐 Aussie Motoring Slang [...] Dunny door: Commodore.
2020		www.greenslips.com.au 21 Dec. 🌐 The iconic Commodore gets called Dunny Door, Bomb-a-door and Commode.

dunnygasper (n.)

a latrine cleaner.

1968

A. Burgess Enderby Outside in Complete Enderby (2002) 305: ‘What,’ asked Enderby, ‘is a dunnygasper?’ [...] ‘A dunnygasper is a bert that cleans out a dunny.’.

dunny rat (n.)

(Aus./N.Z.) a cunning person.

1984		K. Hulme Bone People 211: Simon has the luck of a proverbial dunny rat.
1996		K. Ireland Blowing My Top 99: Not that I was the slightest bit involved in a trick that only a dunny rat would think of.
1998		W. Jenkins Big Game 27: Greg pulled Turley well clear of a manicured poodle whose owner was carrying on like Turls was a dunny rat on a string.
2003		McGill Reed Dict. of N.Z. Sl.
2006		K. Greenwood Cocaine Blues 72: He took a deep breath. ‘Mean as a dunny rat,’ he opined.
2010		N. Mooney That Scottish Play 94: We’ll have this yobbo dipstick in no time, bloody oath, even if he's as cunning as a dunny rat .

In phrases

bang like a dunny door in a high wind/like the dunny door in a gale (v.)

see bang like a shithouse door (in a gale) under bang v.¹

down the dunny

(N.Z.) failed, disastrous .

2003		McGill Reed Dict. of N.Z. Sl. 70: If an enterprise goes down the dunny it is a failure.
2011		J.S. Penny Everything A Woman Needs To Know 31: At tennis one day, a local farmer was asked what he was going to do with his wool clip—prices were ‘down the dunny’ .

flap like a dunny door in a high wind (v.)

(N.Z.) to act in a panicky, nervous manner.

2003

McGill Reed Dict. of N.Z. Sl.

out on its own, like a country dunny (adj.)

see out on its/one’s own like a country shithouse under shithouse n.

dunny n.2

In compounds

In phrases

dunny n.²