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two-up. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
two-up, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
two-up in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
two-up you have here. The definition of the word
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English
Etymology
From two + up.
Pronunciation
Noun
two-up (uncountable)
- (Australia, New Zealand, games) A game of chance, played by betting on the outcome of two pennies thrown in the air.
1993, Ernest Hunter, Aboriginal Health and History: Power and Prejudice in Remote Australia, page 242:From the image of a wily digger playing two-up, to a prime minister at the track or the tables, the construction of gambling is as an activity quintessentially Australian.
1994, David Malcolm Grant, On a Roll: A History of Gambling and Lotteries in New Zealand, page 66:The origins of two-up remain obscure. It probably derived from ‘pitch and toss’, a game British youths had played since the late eighteenth century. In Australia pitch and toss was first recorded in the 1850s on the Victorian goldfields, and in New Zealand as a street game on the West Coast in the early 1870s. Two-up evolved as a variant, becoming popular in Australia in the early 1890s, and in New Zealand a year or two later, as labouring men from both countries traversed the Tasman Sea in search of work.
2008, Sam De Brito, The Lost Boys, page 280:Perversely, Scorps chooses not to punt on Anzac Day and won′t go near two-up, probably because his losses will be too public.
Synonyms
Translations
See also
Adjective
two-up (not comparable)
- (of a printed document) Having two document pages per printed page.
- Hypernym: N-up
Adverb
two-up (not comparable)
- (manner, of travel on a motorcycle) With two people aboard.
Some of us rode two-up as we travelled in convoy to the beach.
See also