sundowner

English

A sundowner (swagman)

Etymology

From sundown +‎ -er.

Pronunciation

• Audio (AU)

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Noun

sundowner (plural sundowners)

1. (Australia, obsolete) An itinerant worker, such as a swagman, who arrives at a farm too late in the day to do any work, but readily accepts food and lodging.
   • 2008, Arthur Upfield, edited by Kees de Hoog, Wisp of Wool and Disk of Silver: Up and Down Australia, page 279:

     What he saw was not usual in this part of Australia - a sundowner, a bush waif who tramps from north to south or from east to west, never working, cadging rations from the far-flung homesteads and having the ability of the camel to do without water, or find it.

   • 2010, John Hirst, Looking for Australia: Historical Essays, page 60:

     Like the Australian sundowners, some of these trampers were suspected of never wanting to find a job.

2. (Australia, obsolete) An itinerant worker, a swagman.
3. (nautical) A sea captain who shows harsh discipline by requiring all hands to be on board by sundown.
   • 1985, Ronald H. Spector, Eagle Against the Sun:

     Arrogant, aloof, and suspicious, a “sundowner,” or strict disciplinarian, King inspired respect in many but affection in few.

4. (medicine, colloquial) A patient, usually demented, who tends to become agitated in the evening.
   • 1977, Jules Hymen Masserman, Current Psychiatric Therapies, page 179:

     These patients may improve by day only to relapse at night (nocturnal delirium or sundowner's syndrome).

   • 1989, William H. Reid, The Treatment of Psychiatric Disorders: Revised for the DSM III R., page 71:

     They generally occur in the evening or at night in the form of "sundowner" syndrome, as a result of diminished sensory input and social isolation and/or exposure to an unfamiliar environment (e.g., the hospital).

   • 2007 February 7, Dennis Fiely, “Dark Ages: For the elderly fighting mental or physical problems, life takes a frightening turn when nighttime comes”, in The Columbus Dispatch:

     “Sundowner′s syndrome” refers to changes in mood and behavior that begin near dusk.

5. (originally colonial slang, especially southern Africa) A cocktail consumed at sunset, or to signify the end of the day.
   • 1918, Robert Valentine Dolbey, Sketches of the East Africa Campaign, page 117:

     The cocktail, the universal “sherry and bitters” and sundowner will have to be retained.

   • 1952, Doris Lessing, Martha Quest, Panther, published 1974, page 146:

     Mrs. Lowe-Island […] had imagined the Sports Club as a large shadowy veranda, with native servants standing like willing statues around the walls, plenty of sundowners, and that laughter which is the result of personal comment […].

   • 2005, Franz Wisner, Honeymoon With My Brother: A Memoir, page 243:

     Per custom, we capped our drives with a sundowner cocktail party at a scenic vantage point.

6. A cocktail party held in the early evening.
   • 2005, Edward M. Bruner, Culture on Tour: Ethnographies of Travel,, page 83:

     The Sundowner is basically a cocktail party with a buffet on a riverbank in the bush.

7. A physician employed by the government who practises for private fees after his official hours.
8. Any worker who practises for private fees after official hours.
   • 1956, Redbook: The Magazine for Young Adults, volume 108, page 64:

     These "sundowners" hold jobs in other — usually related — trades, and do their servicing nights and weekends.

   • 1961, Radio-electronics, volume 32, page 262:

     […] according to Home Furnishings Daily, “Public exposure of the sundowners provides strong support for our campaign for state licensing of TV technicians. […]

Derived terms

• sundowner syndrome
• sundowner town

Anagrams

• newsround, snow under, undersnow, undersown, unwonders