In Australia, Tucker Means Food
Tucker is Australian and New Zealand English for food. In American English, tuckered out means exhausted, from a different sense of the verb.
Tucker means food in Australia and New Zealand — probably from *tuck in*, to eat heartily. American English took the same verb in another direction: *tuckered out* means worn out, from an older sense of *tuck* meaning to punish or exhaust. One short word, two countries, two entirely different meanings.
- Food (Australian). *Bush tucker.*
- Tuckered out (American) — exhausted. *The kids are tuckered out.*
- Tuck in — to eat with appetite. *Tuck in, everyone.*
- Tuck shop (British) — a school sweet shop. *A queue at the tuck shop.*
- Bib and tucker — best clothes. *In his best bib and tucker.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Noun | tucker | Good tucker. |
| Verb | tucker | It tuckered him out. |
| Adjective | tuckered | Tuckered out. |
| Related | tuck | Tuck in. |
| Compound | tuck shop | The tuck shop. |
- There's plenty of tucker in the esky.Australian.
- The dog was tuckered out after the walk.American.
- Bush tucker uses native plants and animals.A recognised culinary category.
Australian food words
- Tucker — food generally
- Bush tucker — native Australian foods
- Esky — a cool box, from a brand name
- Snag — a sausage
- Barbie — a barbecue
From *tuck*, of uncertain origin, with senses including to eat and to exhaust. The Australian noun is recorded from the 1850s and the American adjective from the same period.
What does bush tucker mean?
Native Australian foods — plants, seeds and animals used as food by Aboriginal peoples and now in wider cooking.
Where does tuckered out come from?
American English of the nineteenth century, from an old sense of tuck meaning to wear down or punish.