Green’s Dictionary of Slang

nit! excl.2

[nit v.]

(orig. Aus.) a term used to indicate that someone is coming and that one must stop what one is doing and run away.

Show quotations
[Aus]Sydney Sl. Dict. (2 edn) 10: Nit - Get away (usually from a foe), make tracks.
[Aus]Bulletin (Sydney) 3 Sept. 22/1: Jim: ‘Nit, blokes, ’ere’s ’er ole man!’.
[Aus]L. Stone Jonah 8: Nit! ’Ere’s a cop!

In compounds

nit-keeper (n.)

(Aus.) one who keeps watch while a companion performs some form of illegal activity.

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[Aus]Coburg Leader (Vic.) 8 July 3/6: But it is not the easiest matter in the world to catch them, provided the nit-keeper is a good man and well up to his business.
[Aus]Argus (Melbourne) 18 Aug. 11/5: The ‘nit-keeper’ threw stones on the roof.
[Aus]Baker Aus. Lang. 45: A person who stands guard, as a lookout, We [...] call him a nitkeeper and say he is on the blink.
[Aus]F.J. Hardy Power Without Glory 70: They evaded your nit-keepers in a most ingenious manner.
[Aus]W. Dick Bunch of Ratbags 172: I smartly woke up to the fact that this was a swy school and the bloke at the head of the stairs was the nit-keeper.
[Aus]B. Ellem Doing Time 130: When they do take place a ‘nitkeeper’ is usually strategically positioned to keep a lookout and warn the group of anyone approaching.
[Aus]G. Seal Lingo 50: Equally Australian are a number of terms for the person who keeps guard for those involved in criminal activities, including cockatoo, nitkeeper (one who keeps nit), the crickety-sounding long-stopper and fizz-gig, or fizzer now used widely to mean a police informer.

In phrases

keep nit (v.) (also cry nit) [var. on keep nix under nix! excl.]

(Aus.) to act as lookout.

Show quotations
[Aus]Independent (Footscray, Vic.) 14 Nov. 3/4: [H]is mate, who was standing on the opposite side of the street and said he was keeping ‘nit’ whilst Perkins went into the shop.
[Aus]Bulletin (Sydney) 21 Apr. 26/2: Don’t forget that rats keep ‘nit’ with splendid all-round effect. The graver the threatened danger the longer they’ll keep away from the scene.
[Aus]Sydney Sportsman (Surry Hills, NSW) 20 Feb. 1/4: When he gits his brass he watches, / Has his pals a-cryin nit / And when Muggie comes approachin, / Codger does a quiet flit.
[Aus]Gadfly (Adelaide) 11 Apr. 18/2: If these are closed through the local-option movement, Rev. Boniface will have to turn the Church Office into a sly grog shanty, with Mrs. Nicholls serving the drinks with a seductive smile, and Harry Gainford keeping ‘nit’ for the police.
[Aus]Bulletin (Sydney) 5 Aug. 47/1: ‘I was only keeping nit on the corner,’ he added, explaining things.
[Aus]Mirror (Perth) 6 Nov. 12/1: Didn’t he have anyone keeping nit?
[Aus]G. Casey It’s Harder for Girls 3: You only wanted me an’ Fat to keep nit.
[Aus]Cusack & James Come in Spinner (1960) 35: Val’ll keep nit in the corridor.
[UK]C. Rohan Down by the Dockside 127: Taffy [...] had been keeping nit at the corner.
[Aus](con. 1941) R. Beilby Gunner 9: There the game was properly run at the far end of a terrace which overlooked an escape route of alleys, and there were always ‘cockatoos’ out keeping nit.
[Aus]Tupper & Wortley Aus. Prison Sl. Gloss. 🌐 Nit. To keep watch during illicit activity with the purpose of giving a warning. As in ‘keeping the nit’. [Ibid.] Nitkeeper. A lookout.
[Aus]G. Seal Lingo 50: Equally Australian are a number of terms for the person who keeps guard for those involved in criminal activities, including cockatoo, nitkeeper (one who keeps nit), the crickety-sounding long-stopper and fizz-gig, or fizzer now used widely to mean a police informer.