Jackon.
/ˈdʒakəʊ/, U.S. /ˈdʒækoʊ/, Australian English /ˈdʒækoʊ/, New Zealand English /ˈdʒɛkʌu/ 1. Australian. The laughing kookaburra, Dacelo novaeguineae.Cf. Jack n.2 37c, jackass n.1 4, Jacky n. 4.
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the world > animals > birds > perching birds > order Coraciiformes (kingfisher, etc.) > [noun] > family Alcedinidae > dacelo novaeguineae (kookaburra)
kingfisher1440
laughing jackass1798
settler's clock1827
jackass1844
goburra1860
Jack1863
kookaburra1890
Jacky1898
Jacko1907
kooka1933
1907 Bulletin (Sydney) 31 Oct. 15/3 The goburra has been called the ‘settler's clock’, but he should be altogether an unreliable one. Jacko is apt to go off at any time.
1986 Courier Mail (Nexis) 25 Mar. Jacko's massive beak, which to be really appreciated has to be suffered in a finger grab, is used also in territory squabbles.
2009 Courier Mail (Austral.) (Nexis) 31 Jan. 24 Words and phrases you haven't heard in years will pop off the pages, like jacko for kookaburra.
2. Australian and New Zealand Military slang (derogatory). The Turkish army collectively, during the First World War (1914–18). Also: a Turkish soldier at this time. Now historical.
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1915 G. McCusker Let. 7 July in Marlborough Express (Blenheim, N.Z.) 2 Sept. 2/3 I expect to be returning to the Peninsula to have another slap at 'Jacko', as the Australians have nicknamed the Turks.
1916 Anzac Bk. 126 By jingo! how your bloomin' grit Must make old Jacko dance.
1918 Kia Ora Coo-ee Apr. 18/2 We spotted a Jacko, with a big bulge on his left side, sneaking away.
1937 A. Wisberg & H. Waters Bushman at Large 162 Dig for your bloody lives. Jacko's liable to rush us any minute now!
1949 G. Berrie Morale 43 There's a Jacko general out there trying to tell them something, and they think he's talking French.
1982 J. Gasparich in C. Pugsley Gallipoli (1984) vii. 194 Every time we threw earth up [digging in on Gallipoli] we got a shower of bullets because Jacko, we found out afterwards was lined up along a ridge well above us.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2018; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
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n.1907