stoush n.
1. (Aus./N.Z./Scots) a fight, fighting; thus the Big Stoush, WWI; reinstoushments/reinstouchments, reinforcements.
![[Aus]](/static/img/flags/aus.png "Australia") | W. Aus. Sun. Times 24 Sept. 7/2: Bill’s push dealt stoush out to a man. | |
| Bulletin (Sydney) 10 Feb. 24/2: Sydney pug-clubs [...] are at outs and don’t bruise in the same yard. [...] Opposition’s the life of trade, saith the trader whose commodity is stoush. | |
| Materials for a Dict. of Aus. Sl. [unpub. ms.] 136: The pushes or gangs of larrikins call the beating of a civilian or policeman ‘dealing out stouch.’. | |
![[NZ]](/static/img/flags/nz.png "New Zealand") | Truth (Wellington) 28 Aug. 3/5: Brady gave a clever exhibition of boxing [...] Christchurch is making great strides in matters pertaining to stoush. | |
| Sun. Times (Perth) 5 Dec. 2s/5: The ex-caterer [...] is now a stoush-promoter. | |
| ‘The Play’ Bulletin (Sydney) 16 July 47/1: Wot’s jist plain stoush wiv us, right ’ere today, / Is ‘valler’ if yer fur enough away. | |
| Aussie (France) 12 Mar. 1/2: Some brand new reinstoushments blew in the other night. | |
| Handful of Ausseys 272: Yer so fond of inviting stouch. | |
| ‘A Holy War’ Rose of Spadgers 45: ‘Stoush? Stoush, young friend?’ ’e sez. ‘Where ’ave I ’eard / That term? I gather it refers to strife.’. | |
| Dict. of Aus. Words And Terms 🌐 STOUCH—A fight. | |
| (con. WWI) Gloss. Sl. [...] in the A.I.F. 1921–1924 (rev. t/s) n.p.: stoush. Fight. [Ibid.] n.p.: reinstouchments. Reinforcements. | |
| N.Z. Truth 18 Apr. 1/4: We wonders sometimes wot th’ stoush [i.e. World War I] wus for. | |
![[UK]](/static/img/flags/uk.png "United Kingdom") | (con. WWI) in Partridge Sl. Today and Yesterday 287: There will be plenty of stoush and somebody is bound to get cleaned up. | |
| Sun. Times (Perth) 29 Jan. 45/9: Greeks / Who dealt out the stoush to the Spartans. | |
| Western mail (Perth) 9 May 10/3: Paddy — a stoush slinger of some fame, was also champion beer-sparrer of the town. | |
| Popular Dict. Aus. Sl. 73: stoush: A thrashing, violence, a brawl, conflict, war. | |
| Love me Sailor 149: It was just like the old days when I got Ernie into some stoush ashore just for the hell of fighting. | |
| (con. 1941) Twenty Thousand Thieves 89: He was in that stoush with Hughie the other day. | |
| Jimmy Brockett 144: The Governor was keen on his bit of stoush. | |
| Gun in My Hand 148: Poor country lads who gave the German professionals plenty of stoush. | |
| I’m a Jack, All Right 10: That stouch we got into in smoky Sasebo. | |
| Holy Smoke 8: He’s down at the creek wavin’ this flamin’ great pig-sticker of his around and lookin’ for stoush. | |
| Eng. Lang. in Aus. and N.Z. 100: The Australians outdid them by calling ‘The Great War’ the big stoush. | |
| (con. 1930s) ‘Keep Moving’ 59: I’m warnin’ you [...] There could be a stoush. | |
| (con. 1948) Lily on the Dustbin 46: ‘Shit!’ says I, and that’s how the stoush started. | |
| Dinkum Aussie Dict. 49: Stoush: A punch up or a fight. | |
| Lairs, Urgers & Coat-Tuggers 155: [H]e is indeed absolutely innocent and, being a one-eyed gimp, wouldn’t be much of a chance in any sort of stoush - let alone a fair dinkum street stoush. | |
| Reed Dict. of N.Z. Sl. | |
 | One Skin for an Overlander 239: The Elders of all the biggest tribes are always looking for a fight...to train their young men [...] This time, Boss, it’s a big stoush with the whites. | |
![[Scot]](/static/img/flags/sco.png "Scotland") | All the Colours 80: Even our scandals were second-rate – stooshies over [...] fiddled taxi claims. | |
| Eye for Eternity 67: [He] loved to smoke and loved a drink, he loved the wrestling and the boxing [...] on Monday nights he always listened to 'the big stoush', [as] he used to call it. | |
| in Guardian 12 July 🌐 Excellent, old-school pieces [...] are consistently outnumbered by articles that are infuriatingly ill-informed or designed to do nothing more than start a stooshie BTL. | |
| Twitter 7 Dec. 🌐 Wouldn’t it cause something of a stooshie if Scotland, Wales and the North of Ireland worked [...] to press for Independence. |
2. lit. or fig. a beating; punishment.
| Sydney Sportsman (Surry Hills, NSW) 31 Oct. 1/3: It looks to me as if the handicappper Quinton has dealt out stouch to him. | |
| Sun. Times (Perth) 14 Jan. 1/1: The impudence of some railway understrappers is amazing [and] the treatment they give to some of their betters merits promp stoush. | |
| ‘The Picnic’ in Benno and Some of the Push 1: Deal ’em [i.e. women] out stoush ’ard ’n’ often, ’n’ they’ll lick yer ’and. | |
| Bulletin (Sydney) 5 Aug. 47/1: You know what ther police do? They nab a bloke they think knows all erbout a job, and try an’ get him to squeal. If he won’t, they’ll put the job on him if they can. A man won’t squeal, not often. He’s liable fer stoush if he does. | |
| see sense 1. |
In derivatives
(Aus.) aggressive, violent.
| Sun. Times (Perth) 11 Nov. 4/7: And this (in dreams) is the stoushful John / Who put the Hebrew’s pug-pot on. |
In compounds
(Aus.) liquor as a stimulant of violence.
| Sun. Times (Perth) 6 Feb. 2nd sect. 4/8: The line where the stump-jumping pub moves around on Sunday selling stoush juice and bottled homicide. |
a fighter, an aggressive person.
| Sport (Adelaide) 8 June 14/2: They Say [...] Stronger H. had his mince pie filled by a stoush dealer. | |
| Sport (Adelaide) 18 Sept. 5/4: B.W., the stoush merchant, is looking for a 20-round contest. | |
| Digger Dialects 48: stoush merchant — A fighter. | |
| Queanbeyan Age (NSW) 6 May 2/5: Both our local ‘stoush’ merchants [...] met defeat at Cootamundra on Friday. | |
| (con. WWI) Gloss. Sl. [...] in the A.I.F. 1921–1924 (rev. t/s) n.p.: stoush. Fight; [...] stoush merchant. A fighter. | |
| Mirror (Perth) 27 Aug. 16/1: We have [...] Butcher the pug. The stoush merchant has the most appropriate monnicker. | |
| Popular Dict. Aus. Sl. 73: stoush merchant: A bully, a pugilist. stoush-up, a: A free-for-all brawl. | |
| Mirror (Perth) 9 Sept. 8/1: A display of fisticuffs which would have done credit to a professional stoush merchant. | |
| Come in Spinner (1960) 271: He was nothing but a bloody stoush merchant anyway. |
a fight.
| Aussie (France) 4 Apr. 10/1: Wot! Me that’s bin throo Pozzyiers, Goodycort, Bullycort, Messeens an’ lots of other stoushes up? | |
| Popular Dict. Aus. Sl. 73: stoush merchant: A bully, a pugilist. stoush-up, a: A free-for-all brawl. | |
| Jimmy Brockett 30: We were more than a match in a stoush-up with the Rocks. | |
| Sydney Morn. Herald 18 July 3/11: She reminds me of a mate of Yabba’s, who used to play a lot in stoushups on our Sydney Hill. | |
| Lingo 45: Other larrikin terms illuminate those things that were important in their knock about lifestyle: [...] stoush (in print from the 1890s, though derived from the English term for a commotion, ‘stashie’, and no doubt in use for some years before), stoush-up and to be stoushed are all terms for fighting. |
In phrases
(UK black) to act aggressively.
| ‘Livin’ Pancoot’ 🎵 You’re droppin’ stoush when I ain’t even lookin’. |
beaten up, defeated in a fight.
| I Travelled a Lonely Land (1957) 240/1: stoushed up – licked. |