durry

English

Etymology 1

Unknown. Possibly (putative obsolete brand of roll-your-own tobacco) + -y (“diminutive suffix”).
From 1940s; evidence of colloquial use from early 20thC.

But also -- Short for 'Bull Durham', an old (1850s) brand of rolling tobacco, and hence (usually) a roll-your-own cigarette. Used particularly in the Australian Defence Forces. "David Bradley, Australian Journal of Linguistics (1989) suggests that it may be derived from a widely used brand of loose tobacco used for roll-your-owns, Bull Durham, clipped and resuffixed with the most productive suffix for forming new colloquial words in Australian English." -- Source: Australian National Dictionary Centre, quoted in the Urban Dictionary.

Alternative forms

Noun

durry (plural durries)

  1. (Australia, New Zealand, colloquial, slang) A cigarette, especially a roll-your-own. [From 1940s.]
    • 2003, C. C. Saint-Clair, Far from Maddy‎, page 224:
      “Fire-head lady, you got a smoke?” asks the younger of the two men. “You got a durry. Cigarette.” His timbre is low but void of inflexion. “Come,” he says again, brown hand scooping the air in front of him.
    • 2004, Jay Verney, Percussion‎, page 118:
      He pulled a tobacco pouch out of his pocket with a plastic bag containing what had to be a mind-altering substance. “You′re welcome to join me in a durry,” he said, rolling himself a cigarette.
    • 2007, Kevin Hallewell, Woop Woop‎, page 151:
      He thought for a moment as he deftly rolled the paper and tobacco into a durry, licked the edge and stuck it down.
Synonyms

Etymology 2

Alternative forms.

Noun

durry

  1. Alternative form of dhurrie

Anagrams

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