dunnaken, n. — Green’s Dictionary of Slang

dunnaken n.

also donneken, donnykin, dunegan, dunnakin, dunnekien, dunnick, dunnigan, dunnikan, dunniken, dunnyken, dunyken

[danna n. + ken n.¹ (1); note synon. US carnival use donniker]

1. a lavatory; also attrib.

a.1790		H.T. Potter New Dict. Cant (1795) n.p.: dunnakin a necessary.
1809		G. Andrewes Dict. Sl. & Cant.
1811		Lex. Balatronicum n.p.: Dunegan. A privy. A water closet.
1812		Vaux Vocab. of the Flash Lang. in McLachlan (1964) 238: dunnick [...] see Knap a Jacob.
1821		‘A Real Paddy’ Real Life in Ireland 138: What is in London gaols termed a dunniken, was fixed behind the door.
1823		‘Jon Bee’ Dict. of the Turf, the Ring, the Chase, etc. 69: Donneken. Ken — a little house, and donnez, give (gift) compose this necessary nomen.
1835		G. Kent Modern Flash Dict. 13: Dunnaken – if it be necessary to explain the word — a privy.
1835		‘A Blow-Out Among The Blowen’ in Secret Songster 17: Then crooked-back Susan so suddenly cried [...] I must go to the dunniken – but the nasty old whore / Squatted down on her a--- and s--t bang on the floor.
1836		‘Chapter of T--d’s’ in Comic Songster and Gentleman’s Private Cabinet 43: This world’s but a dunyken – mankind are only t--ds!
1840		Flash Mirror 20: Peter Smutto [...] has entered his old flag of the Jacob and Drag, and he now does his business under the cognomen of the Bucket and Dunnaken.
1843		Satirist & Sporting Chron. (Sydney) 25 Mar. 3/2: A Domicile so limited in its accomodation that there is not space sufficient to erect a ‘dunniken’.
1846		Swell’s Night Guide 50: ‘Your doss gorger cracked a wid about you to me, and said she must give you the shoot.’ ‘Shoot! what for?’ roared poor Fuzzy [...] ‘Why because you made a dunniken of your cupboard, and used to lag in the coffee pot.’.
1855		Yokel’s Preceptor 9: Elephant Bet. This mountain of iniquity, from her unwieldly bulk, had gained the appellation of the walking dunny-ken, the elephant squash a--e.
1859, 1860		Hotten Dict. of Modern Sl. etc.
1864, 1867, 1870		Hotten Sl. Dict.
c.1864		‘So, I Said to Myself’ in Rakish Rhymer (1917) 48: Says I, my old gal, you must think people funny men, / Who’d drop you a crown for a fly in a dunniken.
1865		Leaves from Diary of Celebrated Burglar 13/1: One of the stalls [...] in some public house near by turns it out [and] ‘slings’ the ‘poke’ away in the ‘dunnakin’. [Ibid.] 145/2: Crack thau’s been tu t’ ‘Dunniken’ a dozen tymes sen las night.
1873		Sl. Dict.
1894		G.F. Northall Folk-Phrases of Four Counties 39: Dunnekin or Donnykin = A privy, jakes.
1904		Sydney Sportsman (Surry Hills, NSW) 5 Oct. 3/4: [T]here was a constant, succession of calls for the ‘Dunaken’ family [...] until Mr. Smithers, S.M., and the reporters began to think the whole of Diarrhoea Terrace had been summoned [...] It is not understood that this case is going to pan out.
1924		G.H. Lawson Dict. of Aus. Words And Terms 🌐 DUNNYKEN — A closet.
1938		X. Herbert Capricornia (1939) 445: They’re as cunning as dunnikan rats.
1943		R. Llewellyn None But the Lonely Heart 96: I reckon somebody’s using it for a dunnigan up there.
1951		Cusack & James Come in Spinner (1960) 284: The only view I had was out on the dunnikan.

2. as a term of abuse.

1967

(con. 1930s) R. McKenna ‘Fool Errand’ in Sons of Martha 75: ‘Go clean bilges, you dunnigan!’ he’d beller.

In compounds

dunnigan (worker) (n.) (also donegan worker) [worker n.¹ (1)]

(US Und.) a thief who hangs around public lavatories, hoping to steal from discarded coats or take parcels etc. that have been put down.

1931		Irwin Amer. Tramp and Und. Sl. 64: Donegan Worker. – A criminal who robs men in toilet or wash-rooms.
1976		(con. 1930s) R. Chandler Notebooks 63: Dunnigan worker Thieves who hang around comfort stations hoping for a coat left on a hook.
1982		L.A. Times 8 Mar. n.p.: Sam is not like the sleazy dunnigans who work toilets.