Dictionary

parkie en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• (Australia) audio

Etymology

From park + -ie.

Meanings

1. (slang) A parkkeeper; an employee of a public park.
2. (Australia, New-Zealand, colloquial) An Aboriginal who sleeps rough in parks.
   • The health service was a sanctuary for Aboriginal people, especially the “parkies” – a young Roach among them – who were living on the nearby streets, many having gravitated to inner-city Melbourne to try to trace their families after years spent on reserves and missions. 2022 October 27, Sian Cain, “Archie Roach and Ruby Hunter to be celebrated with statue in Fitzroy”, in The Guardian:
   • Walking into the inner-city Brisbane suburb of West End one morning, I witnessed a group of Aboriginal “parkies” being moved on from a corner of the main road. 2018 April 9, Jack Latimore, “Indigenous people are being displaced again – by gentrification”, in The Guardian:
3. (Ireland, UK, slang) A parking or traffic warden.
4. (slang) A person with Parkinson's disease.
   • Some people with Parkinson’s embrace being called a ‘Parkie’, while others hate the term. 2021 August 26, “What do you think of the term ‘Parkie’?”, in Parkinson's Forums:

Forms