on the club en · ADJ
Pronunciation
- (Australia) audio
Etymology
From the term benefit club.
Meanings
-
(UK, not-comparable, slang) Temporarily away from work, usually due to sickness, supported by sickness benefit.
Then he crept up the stone stairs behind the drapery shop at the Co-op., and peeped in the reading-room. Usually one or two men were there, either old, useless fellows, or colliers "on the club".
1913, D[avid] H[erbert] Lawrence, “chapter 5”, in Sons and Lovers, London: Duckworth & Co. […], →OCLC: