Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (US) an eye.

1924

Hecht & Bodenheim Cutie 12: The way our hero lost his gig was like this.

2. (Aus.) a look, a glance.

1924		C.J. Dennis ‘Nocturne’ in Rose of Spadgers 57: ‘Is this ’ere coot,’ I arsts, ‘well knowed to you?’/ The parson takes another gig. ‘Why, yes.’.
1949		J. Morrison Creeping City 8: You pay sixpence to go in and have a gig at his fern-gully and fishponds [GAW4].
1965		J. O’Grady Aussie Eng. 42: ‘Gig’ is also heard sometimes in the sense of ‘look’ [AND].
1984		B. Ellem Doing Time 133: One day there were a group of civilians having a gig at the place.

3. (Aus.) an inquisitive person, a ‘busybody’.

1968		J. Alard He who Shoots Last 70: Ain’t he a gig, Lucas?
1975		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.’.
1984		B. Ellem 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.
1993		Smith & Noble 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.

2013

K. Sampson Killing Pool 56: Anderson nudges me and hands me the gigs. She points and mouths ‘white Golf’ and I pick it up straight away.