Dictionary
Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.
Botany Bay dozen en · NOUN
Pronunciation
Meanings
-
(Australia, historical, obsolete, slang) 25 lashes, i.e. strokes of a whip across a person's back as a punishment.
“Will they be strung up for a Botany Bay dozen like we are if we so much as squeak? Not those fine gentlemen, with their uniforms an' their pockets full o' gold!”
1948, Eleanor Dark, Storm of Time, Collins, published 1963, page 58:He gave a harsh snort and said angrily, “A Botany Bay dozen is not twelve. It's twenty-five, and more than capable of exposing a man's backbone.”
2003, Mary Hawkins, Australian Outback: Four Journeys to a New Country Ride on the Wings of Faith and Love, page 47:If guilty, he is taken to a cart-wheel to receive a Botany Bay dozen, which is twenty-five lashes ;[…].
1893, Frank Murcott Bladen, Historical Records of New South Wales: Papers Relating to Grose and Paterson, 1793-1795, volume 2, page 796:
Forms
Synonyms
tester