Christmas n.
1. (US und.) a railroad brakeman.
![[US]](/static/img/flags/us.png "United States") | ‘The Lang. of Crooks’ in Wash. Post 20 June 4/1: [paraphrasing J. Sullivan] The brakeman [...] is termed a bakery, a Christmas, a shad or a shack. |
2. (N.Z.) non-specific description of anything pleasant.
![[NZ]](/static/img/flags/nz.png "New Zealand") | Till Human Voices Wake Us 103: I thought the cells were Christmas, after Wenukai with its six by eight hovels. |
SE in slang uses
In compounds
see box n.1 (1a)
a cough, chilblained heels and a snotty nose.
![[UK]](/static/img/flags/uk.png "United Kingdom") | Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue ms. additions n.p.: Christmas compliments to you that is, a Cough, Kibed Heels, & a Snotty Nose. | |
| , | | Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue (2nd, 3rd edn) n.p.: |
| Lex. Balatronicum. | |
| Grose’s Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue. |
(Aus./N.Z.) a squeeze of one’s opponent’s testicles, usu. in wrestling.
![[Aus]](/static/img/flags/aus.png "Australia") | Aus. Speaks. | |
| Packhorse and Pearling Boat 125: Joe came in low, looking for that grip which the west coast black fellow learned from that other clean fighter, the Jap: The Christmas hold (the handful of nuts). | |
| Australian 2 May Mag. 7: A woman in a dental surgery, lying on the dentist’s couch, put the Christmas grip on the dentist. When the dentist winced with pain, as any-one would wince if a Christmas grip were put upon him, she said, ‘We are not going to hurt each other are we, Mr Dentist?’ [GAW4]. | |
| Sydney Morning Herald 20 Mar. 1: Daley pointed to a prostrate Lyons with icebags on his groin and said: ‘They got him with a Christmas hold’ [GAW4]. | |
| Macquarie Dict. 🌐 Christmas hold noun Wrestling, etc. a hold in which one grabs the opponent’s testicles (a Christmas hold is ‘a handful of nuts’, i.e. nuts testicles). | |
| Reed Dict. of N.Z. Sl. 76: Father Christmas hold, the old hand under the crotch of an opponent, inducing surrender. | |
| Sydney Morning Herald 17 Sept. 🌐 The NRL boast the game is clean of [...] testicle grabs and the incidence is certainly less than in the AFL where [...] the Christmas hold is called the squirrel grip. | |
| Olympus & Beyond 27: Early in the game, when both teams packed down in a scrum, one of the Bondi United second row forwards grabbed Ritchards in a Christmas hold (a.k.a. a handful of nuts). | |
| Adventures of the Honey Badger [ebook] VITAL AUSSIE VERNACULAR Squeezed Testicles 1. Tackle grab 2. Christmas grip. |
(N.Z. prison) a skinhead who has suffered a beating.
| Boobslang [U. Canterbury D.Phil. thesis] 42/2: Christmas pudding n. a beaten-up skinhead. |
(drugs) a mixture of different coloured depressant pills.
| Narcotics and Narcotic Addiction (3rd edn). | |
| Drug Lang. and Lore. | |
| ONDCP Street Terms 6: Christmas rolls — Depressants. |
In phrases
(Aus.) an admirable individual.
| Hartford Courant (CT) sect. D 5 Sept. 27/3: G’Day from Down Under [...] He’s a fair dinkum sort, a little Christmas on a stick [...] most people would crack a tinnie with him. |
(Aus.) ironic retort to someone who is showing off, esp., a thing they are unjustifiably proud of; often used against people driving flashy cars.
| Aus. Women’s Wkly 14 Nov. 29/1: He had to draw up behind. I got out of the van as elegantly as was possible in my short tight skirt and marched over to him. ‘And what else did you get for Christmas?’ I inquired coldly. |
a general phr. of pleasurable surprise.
| Sl. U. 203: When my boyfriend called tonight, I said, ‘What is this, Christmas?’ to my roommate. |