Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. a drink that one buys for oneself, despite being in company.

1876		Dalby Herald (Qld) 22 Jan. 2/4: [He] inserted his forefinger and thumb into a vest pocket, drew therefrom a silver sixpence, went to thebar and enjoyed a ‘Jimmy Woodser,’ or solitary nobbier, with much gusto.
1881		Goulburn Eve. Penny Post (NSW) 17 Feb. 4/5: ‘Brien’ says times must be getting bad, as he notices a good many doing ‘Jimmy Woodser’.
1893		Windsor & Richmond Gaz. (NSW) 26 Aug. 6/2: There was no shouting then. Everyone did his Jimmy Woods-er.
1900		Bulletin (Sydney) 13 Oct. 14/2: Clancy, the cattle-man, struck the pub. and asked a ‘stool-pigeon’ that was in the bar to have a drink. Then they had another, and another, [...] but when the fifth drink came on, Clancy’s cattle-education came to his rescue. He had a ‘Jimmy Woodser,’ and remarked to the stool-pigeon, ‘Old man, I’m going to wean you.’.
1906		Sun. Times (Perth) 25 Nov. 1/1: As he bought the latter [alcohol] at wholesale prices he saved money in having jimmy Woodsers.
1910		Bulletin (Sydney) 17 Nov. 32/1: In that town I had the mortification to see Australians shaved by Chows; and to see my countrymen buying small goods and big goods from the same breed to an extent that made my indignation so hot it sizzled when I threw a Jimmy Woodser over it.
1915		Sport (Adelaide) 5 Mar. 2/6: [I]t was only Ragtime Bob (the hollow-legged whisky hum) humming a sprat for a Jimmy Woodser.
1931		Townsville Daily Bull. (Qld) 7 July 11: I props old ‘Matilda’ on a cask, gets outside a couple of woodsers, and tells the barmaid I’m from ’Curry in Queensland.
1937		Sun. Times (Perth) 31 Jan. 33/2: Each called for a ‘Jimmy Woodser’ and went their way.
1945		Mail (Adelaide) 25 June 44/5: A friend approached the woman with the whisky, and asked if she were by herself, and the reply was: ‘Yes— I’m having a Jimmy Woodser’.
1956		Mail (Adelaide) 20 Mar. 4/2: A ‘Jimmy Woodser’ can refer to a man who drinks by himself in a pub, or to a drink which is consumed alone.
1975		(con. 1930s) H. Anderson Men of the Milford Road 52: I picked up the rum bottle off the counter and poured each of us a ‘Jimmy Woodser’.

2. anyone who drinks alone; thus jimmy woodsing, drinking by oneself; similarly one of a group who pays only for his own drink (e.g. cit. 1912).

1892		B. Boake ‘Jimmy Wood’ in B. Moore Speaking Our Lang. (2009) 115: I never pay for others, nor do I / Take drink from them, and never never would, sir / [...] / A martyr to my faith, that’s Jimmy Wood, sir.
1896		Wanganui Herald (NZ) 17 Aug. 2: His chance of obtaining an advance is not a rosy one, he having to do a ‘Johnny Woodser’ after the match.
1897		(?) H. Lawson ‘They Wait on the Wharf in Black’ in Roderick (1972) 286: I wanted to score a drink [...] I thought he wanted one and wouldn’t like to be a Jimmy Woodser.
1900		Leamington Spa Courier 28 Apr. 7/7: [from Sydney Bulletin; but see above at 1897] I wanted to score a drink [...] I thought he wanted one, and I wouldn’t like to be a Johnnie Woodser.
1902		Bulletin (Sydney) 9 Aug. 17/1: Can any Bulletin reader explain, for certain, the origin of the term ‘Jimmy Woodser’? [One yarn is that some Jimmy Woods used to always drink by himself; another, that a man wanting to drink by himself asked an imaginary Jimmy Woods to come and drink with him.].
1905		NZ Free Lance (Wellington) 8 July 12: The noble army of ‘Johnny Woodsers’ the gentlemen who steal surreptitiously into a bar and ‘have one on their own’.
1907		Sun. Times (Perth) 27 Jan. 4/7: Especially those who never pay, / And ‘Woodser’ on their own.
1912		Bulletin (Sydney) 14 Nov. 47/1: Then Mulga Mick grabs ’old o’ Bill, an’ cutely found an’ felt / A most auspicious spongy wad inside the corpse’s belt. / Then from a little chamois bag ’e pulls a fiver out – / ‘No Jimmy Woodsers ’ere,’ sez ’e; ‘It’s William’s turn to shout!’.
1924		G.H. Lawson Dict. of Aus. Words And Terms 🌐 JIMMY WOODSER – One who drinks alone.
1933		(ref. to 1890–1910) L.G.D. Acland Early Canterbury Runs (1951) 383: Jimmy or Johnny Woodser – Slang. A drink by yourself.
1941		Baker N.Z. Sl. 46: Terms [...] recorded during the closing twenty years of last century [include] [...] Johnny Woodser, a drink taken alone ‘with the flies’ (this is a New Zealand version of the Australian Jimmy Woodser).
1942		Gloucester Advocate 14 July 2/4: Did you ever stop to think now that old saying, ‘A Jimmy Woodser,’ originated. According to one authority ,it originated at the City of London Hotel, Majorca, near Maryborough; in the good old min ing days of Victoria. Jimmy Woods, a miner who came from Colung wood, was a regular customer [...] He had a special pot that held nearly a quart of beer [etc].
1950		Courier-Mail (Brisbane) 29 May 4/1: The one about the New Australian who thought Einstein was a Jimmy Woodser.
1956		Mail (Adelaide) 20 Mar. 4/2: A ‘Jimmy Woodser’ can refer to a man who drinks by himself in a pub, or to a drink which is consumed alone.
1972		B. Wannan Folklore of the Aus. Pub 68: Old Bill Dickson was a Jimmiwoodser.
1988		McGill Dict. of Kiwi Sl. 63/2: Johnny Woodser lone drinker in a pub.
1999		G. Seal Lingo 132: Terms like jimmy woodser and he’s drinking with the flies echo this disapproval of the solitary imbiber.
2003		McGill Reed Dict. of N.Z. Sl. [as cit. 1988].

3. a solitary person, an orphan.

1957

D. Niland Call Me When the Cross Turns Over (1958) 9: After the funeral she shut the door of her hut and sat alone in thought. I’m a real Jimmy Woodser now. On my own.