Old Dartn.
/ˌəʊl(d) ˈdɑːt/, U.S. /ˌoʊl(d) ˈdɑrt/, Australian English /ˌoʊl(d) ˈdʌːt/, New Zealand English /ˌʌul(d) ˈdʌːt/ colloquial (now chiefly Australian and New Zealand).
With the. Great Britain or Ireland considered as one's country of origin, esp. by colonists. Cf. old country n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > named regions of earth > Europe > British Isles > [noun] > Britain
AlbionOE
Britannia1605
Brittanies1610
old country1751
home1755
homeland1862
Old Dart1863
old home1869
Pommyland1916
cool Britannia1967
mainland1980
1863 ‘Mulvaney’ & ‘O'Flanagan’ in Donnybrook-Fair Comic Songster 54 And if England should dare interfere, Ould Ireland will have a chance again... Then, when the old dart is free, Annex'ion to America we'll plan again.
1880 Milwaukee (Wisconsin) Daily Sentinel 12 June 7/2 People familiar with the linen producing districts of Ireland, pronounce this climate and soil to be almost an exact duplicate of the ‘old dart’.
1892 Quiz & Lantern (Adelaide) 18 Nov. 7/2 He was from England... He is one of the sort who return to the old dart and say that fruit-growing here is a failure.
1908 E. S. Sorenson Quinton's Rouseabout 206 Murty unexpectedly came in for something like £800 by the death of a distant and almost forgotten relative in the old dart.
1952 J. Cleary Sundowners 157 I married her when I was over in the Old Dart during the war.
1990 Sunday Mail (Brisbane) 21 Oct. 56/10 The football commentator is in the Old Dart for the Kangaroo tour and Wally's testimonial functions.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2004; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
<
n.1863