Dictionary

milk bar en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• (Australia) audio

Meanings

1. (Australia) A convenience store.
   • Once he was at the milk bar, trying to buy cigarettes with an old bus ticket even though he didn′t smoke. Mum was upset about the cigarettes and the milk-bar man was angry about the bus ticket Dad was shoving into his hand. 2008, Anna Krien, “Turning off the Lights”, in Delia Falconer, editor, The Best Australian Stories 2008, page 131:
   • There′s another ATM at the newsagent, although Eftpos is possible at the milk bar and Maldon Pharmacy, both on Main St. 2009, Andrew Bain, Ethan Gelber, Cycling Australia, Lonely Planet, page 153:
   • 1972, The Australian, quoted in 1988, Lois E. Foster, David Stockley, Australian Multiculturalism: A Documentary History and Critique, page 211, As one immigration man put it, “More pofessional migrants — and especially teachers — from countries like Italy and Yugoslavia would help to dispel the idea some Australians still have that the only migrants we get from these countries are milk-bar owners or greengrocers.”
2. A small shop or cafe, often part of a larger shop, that sells fast food and a range of dairy-based beverages such as milkshakes and ice creams; a deli or delicatessen.
   • Today the State shows a benevolent face to Culture-Diffusion but to those who produce culture no trace of sympathy or indulgence, with the result that we are becoming a nation of commentators, of critics and hack-explainers, most of whom are ex-artists. Everything for the Milk-bar, nothing for the cow! 1944, Cyril Connolly, The Unquiet Grave, revised edition, London, published 1955, page 55:

Forms

Deriveds

milk-bar cowboy

Descendants

bar laitier

Synonyms

bodega · soda fountain · dairy bar · convenience store · malt shop · soda shop · corner store · ice cream parlor · delicatessen