Dictionary

ridgy-didge en · ADJ

Pronunciation

• (Australia) audio

Etymology

Fanciful diminutive of obsolete ridge (“real; used in reference to gold”). Australian from 1953.

Meanings

1. (Australia, colloquial) Genuine, authentic, true; honest, upright.
   • ‘Colin Reeves,’ I said. ‘He′s ridgy-didge, is he?’ ‘Yeah, young Reeves is solid,’ Bob said. ‘Straight up and down. Although you′d never know it from the way he looks these days . . .’ 2003, Gabrielle Lord, Lethal Factor, published 2010, unnumbered page:
   • ‘Bullshit.′ ‘No, it′s ridgy-didge. I kid you not.’ 2011, Bill King, King of the Outback, page 162:
   • In the normal scheme of things a senior editor would have agreed on the sum with the seller having already defrayed the costs around the group, asking for, say, $3000 from each of the Sundays after assuring them the photos were ‘ridgy-didge’. 2011, Bruce Guthrie, Man Bites Murdoch: Four Decades in Print, Six Days in Court, page 280:
   • Are you ridgy-didge? - Do you really mean that? Are you telling the truth?
2. (Australia, colloquial) Good, fine.
   • 2001, Bryce Courtenay, Four Fires, Volume 1, 2010, Large print edition, page 278, Sit them in the dam, wait for the fire to pass over, everything will be ridgy-didge.
   • ‘[…]I don′t know if I would have managed a commission. I don′t know if I was bright enough for that. But I was a pretty ridgy-didge soldier.’ 2004, John Little, Down to the Sea, published 2012, unnumbered page:

Forms

Synonyms

for real (genuine) · dinkum (genuine) · fair dinkum (genuine) · dinky-die (genuine)