Ned Kellyn.
/ˌnɛd ˈkɛli/, U.S. /ˌnɛd ˈkɛli/, Australian English /ˌned ˈkeli/ Chiefly Australian colloquial.
1. A person likened to Ned Kelly, esp. a person of reckless courage or unscrupulous business dealings; (also) an instance of behaviour appropriate to such a person. See also (as) game as Ned Kelly at game adj.1 Phrases 2.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > goodness and badness > wrongdoing > unscrupulousness > unscrupulous person > [noun]
Ned Kelly1886
society > morality > moral evil > lack of principle or integrity > [noun] > lack of scruple > unscrupulous or unprincipled person
unconscionable1655
unprincipled1787
snollygoster1846
whore1871
Ned Kelly1886
Snopes1962
1886 Fortn. Rev. Feb. 258 It is the God-fearing courage of a Gordon which his reading should engender, not the ignoble daring of a Ned Kelly.
1893 F. W. L. Adams Australians 66 This Ned Kelly of colonial politics may yet jockey himself into a local immortality, as the father of Australian Federation.
1918 Truth (Sydney) 17 Nov. 12/5 Would you kindly allow me a small space to expose the Ned Kelly methods of a great majority of Sydney shopkeepers.
1953 R. Braddon in I. Bevan Sunburnt Country 129 Such a feat of bluff is known to Australians as a ‘Ned Kelly’... It is phrases such as ‘do a Ned Kelly’ that lend so much verve and colour to the Australian serviceman's vocabulary.
1965 J. O'Grady Aussie Eng. 62 Included in this Ned Kelly category [is]..the bloke who sells you a second-hand, guaranteed, ‘every bit as good as new..’ vehicle, which falls to pieces in the first hundred miles.
1974 Courier-Mail (Brisbane) 20 Aug. 12/5 Mr. Bizzell said the council offered him £740 for 74 perches of land... ‘They are just Ned Kellys,’ he said. ‘They certainly won't put it back on the market without making a handsome profit.’
1993 Courier-Mail (Brisbane) 23 Oct. (Weekend Suppl.) 6/7 David Boon: the Ned Kelly of the cricketing 90s? The..determined Aussie battler taking on the might of the international fast-paced firing squads?
2. [Rhyming slang.] The belly.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > the body > external parts of body > trunk > front > belly or abdomen > [noun]
boukc1000
stomachc1400
abdomen?1541
venter1706
bowel1708
bingy1859
Ned Kelly1945
1945 S. J. Baker Austral. Lang. xv. 271 Here are a few examples of undisguised rhyme that seem to be Australian:..Port Melbourne Pier, an ear; Ned Kelly, the belly.
1951 D. Stivens Jimmy Brockett 86 I got his arm and rammed a right into his Ned Kelly.
1970 Private Eye 27 Mar. 16 If I don't get a drop of hard stuff up me old Ned Kelly there's a good chance I might chunder in the channel.
1988 Australasian Post (Melbourne) 16 Jan. 24/4 In the U.S. underworld, ‘Kelly Ned’ is rhyming slang for ‘head’. Here in Australia, ‘Ned Kelly’ is rhyming slang for ‘belly’.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2003; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
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n.1886