Sandgroper
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 An inhabitant of Western Australia. Australia, humorous
"On both occasions the sandgropers downed the ‘big V’, as indeed they did in 1947 at Hobart when finishing second; the VFL′s only other defeat in 68 pre-state of origin carnival games came in 1911 against South Australia in Adelaide."
- 2 Any species of the family Cylindrachetidae of subterranean insects, found in Australia, New Guinea and Argentina.
"The sandgroper is not unique to Western Australia, being found elsewhere in Australia and also in New Guinea,[…]."
Example
More examples"On both occasions the sandgropers downed the ‘big V’, as indeed they did in 1947 at Hobart when finishing second; the VFL′s only other defeat in 68 pre-state of origin carnival games came in 1911 against South Australia in Adelaide."
Etymology
From sand + groper. The sense “Western Australian” may originate either as a reference to the relatively large proportion of desert in the state or to gold mining during the rushes of the 19th Century.
Related phrases
More for "sandgroper"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.