Hello, you have come here looking for the meaning of the word swagman. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word swagman, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say swagman in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word swagman you have here. The definition of the word swagman will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition ofswagman, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.
From swag(“items stolen by a thief; unlawfully obtained goods; (Australia, New Zealand) bundle of personal items carried by a tramp, traveller, etc.”) + man.[1]
And then the swagman was such a companionable little fellow, and told such funny little yarns, and sung so many snatches of odd songs whilst he was at work that once or twice the old man relaxed the cross expression of his facial muscles, and allowed himself to be betrayed into a grim smile, and at last suffered himself to be drawn into conversation, although his answers were short and snappish.
Then the bells struck up for church, and the streets became crowded with well-dressed, warmly-clothed people, hurrying to their various places of worship, and casting glances of pitying curiosity at the two miserable, half-drowned swagmen as they passed.
1869 December, “The Australian Farmer”, in The Farmer’s Magazine, volume XXXVI (Third Series; volume LXVI overall), number 6, London: Rogerson and Tuxford,, →OCLC, page 490, column 2:
[T]he class who exercise the most depressing influence on these rates, little as the unhappy men think themselves so, will be found to consist of idlers and swagmen.
1872, George S[myth] Baden-Powell, “Wayfarers”, in New Homes for the Old Country. A Personal Experience of the Political and Domestic Life, the Industries, and the Natural History of Australia and New Zealand, London: Richard Bentley and Son,, →OCLC, page 122:
Some men, under this plea of "wanting a job," are merely travelling from one part of the country to another for private reasons, and they pick up meat, bread, and tea at each station they pass. [...] We have already remarked that these bush- or swagmen carry "swags," i.e. a blanket made up into a roll six feet in length; the two ends lashed together making the whole resemble one huge horse-collar: this is carried either hanging from one shoulder or resting on the head and back like a coalheaver's pad.
Oh! there once was a swagman camped in a Billabong, / Under the shade of a Coolabah tree; / And he sang as he looked at his old billy boiling, / "Who'll come a-waltzing Matilda with me?"
She was not afraid of horsemen; but swagmen, going to, or worse, coming from the dismal, drunken little township, a day′s journey beyond, terrified her. One had called at the house today, and asked for tucker.
In his prose works Landlopers and Knocking Round, [John Le Gay] Brereton penned affectionate portraits of shearers, swagmen and farmers' wives, based on people he had met on his walks.
2009, Bronwyn Sell, “John Caffrey, c. 1850–87”, in Law Breakers & Mischief Makers: 50 Notorious New Zealanders, : ReadHowYouWant.com, published 2010, →ISBN, page 72:
The policeman thought it best to surprise the man, since he might be armed, so he disguised himself as a swagman and pounced as the man returned from his bridge-painting job.
The practice of selling by commission, the same as I have shown to prevail among the costers, exists among the miscellaneous dealers of whom I am treating, who are known among street-folk as "swag-barrowmen," or, in the popular ellipsis, "penny swags;" the word "swag" meaning, as I before showed, a collection—a lot. The "swag-men" are often confounded with the "lot-sellers"; [...]
1971 November 22, Frank E. Emerson, “They Can Get It for You BETTER Than Wholesale”, in Clay S[chuette] Felker, editor, New York, volume 4, number 47, New York, N.Y.: NYM Corporation, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 34:
He is, in the street talk, a swagman, one of perhaps hundreds of hustlers in the city who distribute an estimated $5-million worth of goods ripped off each year at New York's airports, waterfronts, factories and truck parts. [...] According to Tommy, the mob uses swagmen like himself as down-the-line distributors for these large jobs.
, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1918; “swagman, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
