wowser

English

Wikipedia

Etymology

John Norton, an early enemy of wowsers (temperance sense), claimed it to be an acronym for "We Only Want Social Evils Remedied", but that's likely a folk etymology.

A story has it that gospellers in the streets of Clunes, Victoria in the 1870s were called rousers but one of the town councillors had a speech impediment and couldn't pronounce his "R"s, thus giving wowser. (Reference: Bill Wannan, Australian Folklore, Lansdowne Press, 1970, reprint 1979 ISBN 0-7018-1309-1, under "Wowser", page 568.)

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈwaʊzə(ɹ)/
• Rhymes: -aʊzə(ɹ)

Noun

wowser (plural wowsers)

1. (Australia, New Zealand) A person with a strong moral views for temperance, abstinence, etc, and who promotes them generally or in particular seeks to impose them on other people.
2. (obsolete) A lout or similar disruptive person.

Derived terms

• wowserism

See also

• wowzer

Quotations

person with strong moral views

• 1996, Janette Turner Hospital, Oyster, Virago Press, paperback edition, page 65

  As for the rest, the pay is not bad, coming as it does from the pockets of the three local warlords who hired me: two graziers, one of whom is also a terrible wowser (everyone calls him 'Mr Prophet', though I call him - privately, of course - Mr Brimstone, or Old Blood-and-Thunderguts); the third is the owner of the pub.

References

• Australian National Dictionary Centre