Noun
(plural illywhackers)
- (Australia, colloquial, rare) A small-time confidence trickster or seller of trinkets.
Usage notes
The term was little used before revived by Peter Carey's 1985 novel Illywhacker, and the original sense is now difficult to ascertain.
Origin
Uncertain. Suggested by lexicographer Sidney Baker to derive from speiler, via eeler-spee or eeler-speeler by pig Latin, and from which illywhacker. The verb form whack the illy is a back-formation from the noun.
