• tucker •
Pronunciation: têk-êr • Hear it!
Part of Speech: Verb, transitive
Meaning: (Regional slang) To tire completely, to exhaust, to fully wear out.
Notes: Every now and then we like to toss in a popular slang or regional term and today we have just the word for that category: tucker as in "plumb tuckered out". This phrase is still moderately common down South, especially in the Southwest. Plumb in that phrase is just as interesting. Anything that is plumb is absolutely level, perfectly aligned, so it is easy to see how in some areas it became a synonym of absolutely and perfectly.
In Play: In addition to a geographical region where this word is heard, there is a generational region as well: the upper age levels: "I don't like riding these new-fangled bicycles that don't even have wheels because they tucker me out something awful and I don't even get anywhere!" Yes, using today's Good Word is going to make you sound as senior-citizenly as new-fangled does: "Doesn't it tucker you out any talking like a TV announcer all the time?"
Word History: A tucker was someone who finished woven materials by stretching them on tenters. Tuckers 'tucked', that is, stretched to the limit, newly woven cloth before putting it on sale. Plumb tuckered out would be the state of someone who had just been stretched to their limit, as though on a rack. (Today's Good Word is dedicated to one of my childhood heroes, actor George 'Gabby' Hayes [1885-1969], pictured above, who often found himself "plumb tuckered out" from supporting the leading man in the 190 mostly western movies he played in.)
TUCKER
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TUCKER
• The Good Dr. Goodword
As a noun, it is. But it seems to be short for bush tucker.
"Time is nature's way of keeping everything from happening all at once. Lately it hasn't been working."
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'Tucker' in Australia and New Zealand
My blog today was a response to the robust reply from our Aussie and Kiwi readers to the verb tucker. They quite rightly brought to my attention the fact that tucker down under is a slang word for US grub (food).
The noun has been added to the list and will come up some time in the future.
The noun has been added to the list and will come up some time in the future.
• The Good Dr. Goodword
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Doc! Surely thou art of such an age that thou couldst not forget the lyric from Waltzing Matilda, even if you never saw On the Beach!
See Tucker for tucker and bush tucker.
Regards//Larry
"To preserve liberty, it is essential that the whole body of the people always possess arms, and be taught alike, especially when young, how to use them."
-- Attributed to Richard Henry Lee
"To preserve liberty, it is essential that the whole body of the people always possess arms, and be taught alike, especially when young, how to use them."
-- Attributed to Richard Henry Lee
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