mullock, n. — Green’s Dictionary of Slang

mullock n.

[dial. mullock, rubbish; also SAusE mullock, the earth taken from a mine and piled at its mouth]

(Aus.)

1. rubbish, a worthless object; thus mullock-seller n., a con-man who sells worthless goods; thus mullocky adj.

1894		Truth (Sydney) 4 Nov. 2/7: Mr Richard Clare’s teeth were set hard while this bit of ‘mullock’ was being slung at him.
1900–10		Stephens & O’Brien Materials for a Dict. of Aus. Sl. [unpub. ms.] 103: MULLOCK: Nonsense, rubbish, anything valueless.
1905		Bulletin (Sydney) 14 Sept. 19/2: A wild-looking Irishman, who was spreeing there and looking for a fight, called Tom a sanguinary perverter of the truth, and started peeling off. Tom, looking at me, said, ’I don’t want any mullock of this sort. We’ll shove.‘.
1912		Sun. Times (Perth) 25 Aug. 85/6: Britain pinches all our prime / Whilst the mullock that remains / Is consumed within this clime.
1951		D. Stivens Jimmy Brockett 222: The bloody place is full of narks who want to pull a man down as soon as he pokes his head out of the mullock.
1966		P. Pinney Restless Men 71: Why’n’t you get them mullocky strides fumigated?
1969		A. Garve Boomerang 145: The mullock tip. It must have come down.
1970		H.E. Bates A Little of What You Fancy (1985) 556: Old cider jars, old brass bedsteads and the sort of mullock people collected nowadays.
1982		G. Newbold Big Huey 153: ‘What you reckon about this stale bread, Greg?’ asked Mattie. ‘Fucking mullock.’.
2003		McGill Reed Dict. of N.Z. Sl. 138: mullock Rubbish or nonsense.

2. an ignorant and generally useless person.

1984		Partridge DSUE (8th edn) 766: from ca. 1880.
2001		D. Looser Boobslang [U. Canterbury D.Phil. thesis] 120/1: mullock n. 2 a paedophile. [poss. from a transferred use of 'rubbish' = a worthless person.] 3 an idiot.

3. in fig. use, something unpleasant.

1919

E. Dyson ‘Bricks’ in ‘Hello, Soldier!’ 30: I took it good and hard, / A-dealin’-stoush ’n’ mullock to the Prussian flamin’ Guard.

4. (N.Z. prison, also mull) poor quality marijuana.

2001

D. Looser Boobslang [U. Canterbury D.Phil. thesis] 120/1: mullock n. 1 marijuana of poor quality, esp. applied to a batch of dried marijuana where the good-quality bud (or head) of the plant is mixed up with the poor-quality leaf [...] mull n. marijuana of poor quality.

5. (N.Z. prison) lies.

2001

D. Looser Boobslang [U. Canterbury D.Phil. thesis] 120/1: mullock n. 4 lies.

In derivatives

mullock-brained (adj.)

stupid.

c.1905

J. Furphy Rigby’s Romance (1921) Ch. xxx: 🌐 An’ people ain’t such mullock-brained, flamin’ ijiots as to say God bosses that.

In phrases

in the mullock

in difficulties.

1986

R. Beckett Dinkum Aussie Dict. 36: One can [...] be ‘in the mullock’ which is the same as being in the shit.

In compounds

mullock (up) (n.)

(N.Z. prison) esp. of marijuana, to render second-rate.

2001

D. Looser Boobslang [U. Canterbury D.Phil. thesis] 120/2: mullock (also mullock up) v. to ruin, to make poor (applied specifically to marijuana): ‘When it arrived, the marijuana was all mullocked up, just bits of leaf and head.

poke mullock (v.) (also poke mullick)

(Aus.) to mock, to tease, to deride.

1900–10		Stephens & O’Brien Materials for a Dict. of Aus. Sl. [unpub. ms.].
1901		Bulletin (Sydney) 27 July 15/2: Ungrateful Convalescent: ‘Pickcheresk dwellin’? ’Ere, git outer this, you an’ yer bag er tricks. I’ll ’low no one ter poke mullock at my ’ouse.’.
1916		C.J. Dennis ‘To the Boys Who Took the Count’ in Moods of Ginger Mick 101: An’ I’m gittin’ full up uv the mullock they poke / At the cove that is bearin’ the brunt.
1928		V. Palmer Passage 77: Those blokes are mighty good at poking mullock.
1950		J. Morrison Port of Call 66: She’s got class, that piece, but that ain’t no reason for ’er ter go pokin’ mullick at the bush-’eads.
1963		R. McGregor-Hastie Compleat Migrant 107: Mullock, to poke: to poke fun at.
1986		R. Beckett Dinkum Aussie Dict. 36: Mullock: To ‘poke mullock’ means to ‘poke borak’. To insult.
2003		McGill Reed Dict. of N.Z. Sl.