Green’s Dictionary of Slang

moral n.¹

1. (mainly Aus.) a certainty; usu. in phr. it’s a moral.

1869		J. Greenwood Seven Curses of London 397: Everything that is highly promising becomes, in the slang of the advertising tipster, a ‘moral’.
1869		Eve. Jrnl (Adelaide, SA) 1 Oct. 3/3: Of course ‘you never can tell,’ as the racing prophets consolingly observe to the victims who have trusted in their ‘certainty’ or ‘moral’ as the slang goes.
1878		‘’Arry on the Turf’ in Punch 29 Nov. 297/1: The thing looked a moral, my boy, and I put on the stuff pooty ’ot.
1880		Bulletin (Sydney) 2 Oct. 2/3: The match against the English Players appears ‘a moral’ for the Australians, who have only 30 runs to get for 7 wickets to win.
1884		Ally Sloper’s Half Holiday 31 May36: [headline] Tipping the Whisper. Back the buster. It’s a moral.
1885		Bulletin (Sydney) 13 Jun. 14/3: The race looked a ‘moral’ for Clarence […]; but, to the horror of his many backers, Corrigan, instead of facing the jump and completing the course, brought him into the straight, Cree following suit [...], and the pair rode it out to the finish.
1894		J. Astley Fifty Years (2nd edn) II 175: He looked like a ‘moral’ for the big race.
1895		C. Crowe Aus. Sl. Dict. 50: Moral, in racing slang, for moral certainty.
1901		‘Hugh McHugh’ Down the Line 20: It’s a moral that if you play him you’ll die rich.
1903		A. Binstead Pitcher in Paradise 94: We were pulled up [...] to Tattersall’s Ring to have it [i.e. a bet] down on a ‘moral’ which each time turned out wrong.
1904		Sun. Times (Perth) 3 Jan. 3/3: A moral for ‘Fifeness’ said everybody [...] and so the result proved.
1916		C.J. Dennis ‘The Push’ in Moods of Ginger Mick 38: ’e ’as struck it fer a moral. Ginger’s found ’is game at last, / An’ ’e’s took to it like ducklin’s take to drink.
1941		Headley ‘Values’ in Mann Coast to Coast 66: ’E was a moral [...] ’Ad it sewn up.
1953		K.E. Tennant Joyful Condemned 89: It’s a moral, a dead cert.
1969		A. Buzo Rooted II i: Alan White reckons I’m a moral for grade four.
1973		(con. 1930s) F. Huelin ‘Keep Moving’ 57: I know it sounds bloody silly an’ we’re almost a moral to be knocked back, but this way we’ve got a case.
1985		R.G. Barrett You Wouldn’t Be Dead for Quids (1989) 64: I’m a moral to get a horn splashing around in the pool with this sheila.
1992		R.G. Barrett White Shoes 48: He was a moral to see her again before she left.
2003		Bug (Aus.) Nov–Dec. 🌐 Bleedin’ whingers, there are so many of them about in footy circles, these days, the Poms should be morals to win every World Cup.
2013		T. Peacock More You Bet 6: And as ‘good thing’ might also be referred to as ‘one for the rent,’ or as a ‘moral’, which is short for a ‘moral certainty’.

2. a perfect facsimile.

1891

Sporting Times 10 Jan. 3/1: ‘The ’osses may be wrong, but it’s [i.e. a painting] the very moral of Charley Wood, and that I will maintain’.

In derivatives

morally (adv.)

(Aus.) absolutely.

1904

Sun. Times (Perth) 15 May 11/2: Some of the police are morally convinced that the shops are houses of ill fame.

In phrases

to a/the moral (adv.)

perfectly.

1880		Trollope Duke’s Children (1954) 589: I think that we shall beat Cambridge this year to a moral.
1904		Kipling ‘The Bonds of Discipline’ in Traffics and Discoveries 50: When we had ship’s theatricals off Vigo, Glass ’ere played Dick Deadeye to the moral.