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SlangWordsOnline

barbie

nounColloquial

A Australian English slang term. Browse all Australian slang.

What it means

  1. A barbecue — both the appliance and the social occasion.

In use

  • We're having a barbie Sunday, come round.

  • Chuck the snags on the barbie.

Where it comes from

The phrase 'throw another shrimp on the barbie' comes from a 1980s tourism campaign aimed at Americans and is not something Australians say — not least because they say prawn, not shrimp. The word barbie itself is entirely genuine.