Dictionary

cactused en · ADJ

Pronunciation

• (Australia) audio

Etymology

From cactus + -ed. Australian colloquialism may have originated as a result of the Australian prickly pear plague in the early 20th century, which overran farmland, making it unusable.

Meanings

1. Featuring a cactus or cacti.
   • On top it's a dry cactused area inhabited by typical upper desert creatures such as kangaroo rats and collared lizards. 1977, Jack Couffer, Mike Couffer, Canyon Summer, Putnam, →ISBN, page 13:
   • Ponderosa forests, open meadows, cactused badlands, and river-carved sedimentary layers make appearances. 2008, Bill Hunger, Hiking Wyoming: 110 of the State's Best Hiking Adventures, Falcon Guides, →ISBN, page 20:
   • I could not imagine Cadwallader Davies the grocer, in his near-to-waking dream, riding on horseback, two-gunned and Cody-bold, through the cactused prairies. 1954, Dylan Thomas, Quite Early One Morning, New Directions Publishing, published 1981, →ISBN, page 10:
2. (Australia, slang) Broken; ruined; no longer working, more recently especially related to a technical system.
   • My computer is cactused.
   • the only time this does not work is when my DNS name server is cactused (which happens once or twice a year.) 2001 December 20, bsa [username], “Re: Dingoblue Email Problems”, in aus.net.access (Usenet):
   • Maintenance has never been my favorite pursuit, and many of these repairs were complex and demanding, often requiring pulling parts off a cactused bike, and refitting them to a salvageable one. 2013, Amanda King, “Teaching bike skills in the APY lands”, in Cycle!, Number 157, February-April 2013, page 12:
   • His high spirits descended temporarily. 'It took me thirty minutes to get her going again. The lift pump is cactused.' 1986, Daryl Guppy, "Some Days Are Rocks", in A Bundle of Yarns (ed. Michael Kavanagh); quoted in Susan Butler, The Dinkum Dictionary, The Text Publishing Company (2009), page 66
3. (Australia, slang) In trouble, screwed.
   • Good thing somebody figured out the radio, otherwise you all would have been cactused, in a remote location like that, mate. 2008 May 22, John Ward, “Re: Helicopter - Wish I had more guts!!”, in alt.games.microsoft.flight-sim (Usenet):
   • 'Mini — and that's managed by the Germans, by BMW. I tell you, Walshie, a lot of car makers around the world are cactussed. We're not Robinson Crusoe. But if times are tough now, what'll they be like when the Chinese arrive? If the UK's down to one profitable car maker. D'you think we can possibly hold on to four?' 2007, Kevin James Baker, Economic Tsunami: China's Car Industry Will Sweep Away Western Car Makers, Rosenberg Publishing, →ISBN, page 22:
   • The purpose of today's column is to cheer us both up, despite the inescapable fact the world is f..ked, not to mention cactused, knackered, stuffed, rooted and ruined 2009 June 20, Phillip Adams, “On balance, we're okay”, in The Australian:

Forms

Synonyms

cactusy (featuring cacti)