Wowser
intj, noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 One with strong moral views against excessive consumption of alcohol, gambling, pornography, etc., who seeks to promulgate those views. Australia, New-Zealand, derogatory
"“I’d like to come with you one day up to the top end,” she said. “I suppose it’ll have to be after we’re married.” He grinned. “Plenty of wowsers back in Willstown to talk about it, if you came before.”"
- 2 Alternative form of wowzer. alt-of, alternative
"Its title was “The Time Raider," and this story, which has never been reprinted, was a wowser."
- 3 A lout or similar disruptive person. obsolete
"In size the wowser varies, for no matter where he's at, He takes up all the room there is— just like a cowboy's hat."
- 1 Alternative form of wowsers. alt-of, alternative
"In Gadget's eyes she looked positively beautiful in her gorgeous satiny-red cocktail dress. "Wowser!" he exclaimed, much to the confusion of the guests, who conferred with each other."
Example
More examples"“I’d like to come with you one day up to the top end,” she said. “I suppose it’ll have to be after we’re married.” He grinned. “Plenty of wowsers back in Willstown to talk about it, if you came before.”"
Etymology
From UK dialect. In the pro-temperance sense, Australian from early 1900s. John Norton, an early enemy of wowsers (temperance sense), claimed it to be an acronym for "We Only Want Social Evils Remedied", but that is likely a folk etymology. A story has it that gospellers in the streets of Clunes, Victoria in the 1870s were called rousers but one of the town councillors had a speech impediment and couldn't pronounce his "R"s, thus giving wowser. (Reference: Bill Wannan, Australian Folklore, Lansdowne Press, 1970, reprint 1979 →ISBN, under "Wowser", page 568.)
From wow, with the "-ser" added to provide emphasis.
Related phrases
More for "wowser"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.