gig n.8
1. (US) an eye.
![]() | Cutie 12: The way our hero lost his gig was like this. |
2. (Aus.) a look, a glance.
![]() | Rose of Spadgers 57: ‘Is this ’ere coot,’ I arsts, ‘well knowed to you?’/ The parson takes another gig. ‘Why, yes.’. | ‘Nocturne’ in|
![]() | Creeping City 8: You pay sixpence to go in and have a gig at his fern-gully and fishponds [GAW4]. | |
![]() | Aussie Eng. 42: ‘Gig’ is also heard sometimes in the sense of ‘look’ [AND]. | |
![]() | Doing Time 133: One day there were a group of civilians having a gig at the place. |
3. (Aus.) an inquisitive person, a ‘busybody’.
![]() | He who Shoots Last 70: Ain’t he a gig, Lucas? | |
![]() | Bulletin (Sydney) 26 Apr. 46: If there were Mortons nearby (Morton Bay Figs: gigs, meaning busybodies) the knockaround would refer to whatever it was he didn’t want overheard as ‘gear.’. | |
![]() | Doing Time app. C 247: Well don’t be a gig, in other words if you see something going on you mind your own business. | |
![]() | Neddy (1998) 107: I am a complete gig [someone who can’t mind their own business], so I went outside to see what I could see. [Ibid.] 210: I chose a spot on a hill overlooking the pay office to watch the armored car arrive. It was a spot unlikely to attract attention from any gigs [nosey parkers]. |
4. in pl., a pair of binoculars.
![]() | Killing Pool 56: Anderson nudges me and hands me the gigs. She points and mouths ‘white Golf’ and I pick it up straight away. |