never-never
[nev-er-nev-er]
- never-never land.
- British Slang. hire-purchase system.
- not real or true; imaginary or ideal; illusory: the never-never world of the cinema.
Origin of never-never
First recorded in 1880–85
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for never-never
Contemporary Examples
And this never-never tepid retread of a Bush-era policy is, incredibly, the only actual policy on offer.
Historical Examples
Let me be just her stand-by, her perching-place; never-never her cage!'
The Forsyte Saga, CompleteJohn Galsworthy
"There's time enough for everything in the Never-Never," he said.
We of the Never-NeverJeanie "Mrs. Aeneas" Gunn
Sadly enough, there are too many who Never-Never do leave it.
We of the Never-NeverJeanie "Mrs. Aeneas" Gunn
We'll teach you all the songs of the Never-Never in time; listen!
We of the Never-NeverJeanie "Mrs. Aeneas" Gunn
Go, go away, back to the never-never land, stay there and be safe.
The BrainAlexander Blade
never-never
- the hire-purchase system of buying
- Australian remote desert country, as that of W Queensland and central Australia
- imaginary; idyllic (esp in the phrase never-never land)
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012