Darwin stubby

English

Alternative forms

• Darwin stubbie

Etymology

From Darwin, the Australian city where such bottles have been sold since 1958, + stubby (“small bottle of beer”), intended ironically.

Pronunciation

• Audio (AU)

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Noun

Darwin stubby (plural Darwin stubbies)

1. (Australia, informal) A 2.25 litre bottle of beer, today made principally as a tourist novelty.
   • 2003, Our Own Little Kakadu, Janette Turner Hospital, North of Nowhere, South of Loss, page 102,

     It was a steamy Sunday night, and Jug, guzzling from a large Darwin stubby of tarblack bitter, was weaving by the chapel′s open door on the esplanade when the Lord shouted at the top of His Almighty lungs: “Jug Wilkins, it is required of you this night to be a juggernaut for God.”

   • 2007, Leslie P. Richards, Truckin′ Tales‎^[1], page 31:

     The stake now meant the winner got two hundred pounds, and the money was handed over the bar.
     I told him, “Wait here while I get the stubbies”
     I went out and got a Darwin Stubby out of the truck. When I went back inside I was holding it behind my back, but the ones who saw what I had were having trouble hiding their laughter.

   • 2011, "bottle sizes", entry in Tom Colicchio, Charles Bamforth, George Philliskirk, Keith Villa, Wolfgang Stempfl, Patrick Hayes, The Oxford Companion to Beer, page 152,

     In the Northern Territory of Australia the “Darwin stubby” is a 2-l beer bottle, originally four Imperial pints (2.27 l), sold to capitalize on the region′s reputation for beer consumption.