yard n.
yard v.
yarldarlba n.
yarn n.
yarn up n.
yarn v. intr.
yarra adj.
Yarra-banker n.
yarraman n.
yarra n.
yarran n.
yartz n.
yate n.
yeelaman
yelka n.
yellow adj.
yellow fever n.
yellowtail n.
yellow wood n.
yeo
yertchuk n.
yidaki n.
yiel yiel n.
yike n.
yiros n.
yodel v. intr.
yoe n.
yohi adv.
yoke up v. trans.
yolla n.
yonga n.
yonnie n.
yook n.
yoolang n.
yorga n.
zac n. (Spelling variants: sac, zack.) [Probably from Scottish dialect saxpence, although cf. German sechs (pronounced /zeks/) ‘six’. Also NZ: DNZE 1941.]
1. A sixpence. Also transf.: a trifling sum of money.
1898 Bulletin (Sydney) 1 Oct. 14/3, 6d. a ‘zack’. 1908 Truth (Sydney) 8 Nov. 1/7 ‘Wanted, respectable person, all duties, wages 2s. 6d. per week!’ Ye gods! respectability at two and a sac per week. 1919 C.H. Thorp Handful of Ausseys 163 Muttering blasphemies against all ‘--s who are spongin’ on their Governmints an drawin’ ten an’ a zack a day while they dodge a trip to the firin’ line, the cold-footed --s’. 1929 ‘F. Blair’ Digger Sea-Mates 148 ‘I’ve just spent me last brown, too. Frank’s still holding.’ ‘His hat,’ said I. ‘I’m down to a zac.’ 1933 Kalgoorlie Miner 20 June 7/7 A silver coin collection will be taken up on the ground and it behoves all who can afford a nimble ‘zac’ or ‘tray’ to roll up in large numbers. 1945 Aust. Week-End Bk. 164 The only one who’d backed it had been his wife who’d had a zac each way. 1953 A.W. Upfield Venom House 101 It was the first time I got the notion I was worth a zac to anyone. 1965 K. Smith OGF 120 The only State finances I see are the zacs and deeners people give me on the bus. 1986 Nat. Times (Sydney) 10 Jan. 42/4 No wonder Paul Keating has angrily refused to give the ABC another zac. 1996 P. Doyle Get Rich Quick 35, I went back to the cafe, got a handful of zacks and went back to the phone box. 2006 Age (Melbourne) 29 Aug. 12/5 ‘When I started this .. I divested myself of anything I owned’, he said. ‘I'm not worth a zac.’ 2011 Goulburn Post 13 June 1/1 Initiatives that support the community aren't worth a ‘zack’ in Council eyes, says a local growth group.
2. A prison sentence of six years or six months.
1919 V. Marshall World of Living Dead 84 Done the zac I got fer cattle duffin’ up Gilgandra way, A zac’s hard labour—wot I had ter do. 1971 J. McNeil Chocolate Frog (1973) 20 Tosser: How long are yer doin’? Kevin: Six months .. down at the Petty Sessions… Shirker: .. Why’d yer get the zac? c. 1972 Parramatta Jail Gloss. (Unpubl. typescript, ANDC Archive) 5 A Zack, six months. c. 1978 B. Ellem Doing Time (1984) 200 Zac, a six-month sentence. 1983 Austral. Jrnl. of Cultural Studies May 91 The crim learns the names of laggings, coming to think of them in terms of a chunk of time and not the carefully calibrated units of control such periods of time designate in the outside world. The names of laggings are .. Six months: A Zac.