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wowser

American  
[wou-zer] / ˈwaʊ zər /

noun

Australia and New Zealand.

  1. an excessively puritanical person.

wowser British  
/ ˈwaʊzə /

noun

  1. a fanatically puritanical person

  2. a teetotaller

"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

Etymology

Origin of wowser

First recorded in 1895–1900; origin uncertain

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

But it’s a wowser, and it’s about change.

From New York Times • Apr. 8, 2016

The worst feature of the wowser is that he is not content to spend his Sundays drably in sedate strolls or in solemn indoor sportlessness.

From Time Magazine Archive

He was the "wowser," strangest beastie of them all.

From Time Magazine Archive

He's a real wowser at one class of knowledge, and doesn't know spit about the others.

From Damned If You Don't by Dongen, H. R. van

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.