sparrow-fart en · NOUN
Pronunciation
- (Australia) audio
Etymology
From sparrow + fart. In the dawn sense, apparently from a UK dialect (Yorkshire) from before 1828.
Meanings
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(Australia, New-Zealand, UK, slang, uncountable) A time very early in the day; dawn.
‘Took a girl to the flicks, had to get her back to Birkenhead, some goon in a tin hat and armband ordered us to take shelter in the Underground. No bloody option. So I didn′t get her home until sparrow-fart and her father didn′t believe us, turned quite nasty.’
2005, Alexander Fullerton, Non-Combatants, Hachette UK, unnumbered page:“I was sick of working from sparrow fart as station cook and general dogs-body.”
1993, Patti Walkuski, No Bed of Roses: Memoirs of a Madam, page 111:It felt unnaturally early, sparrowfart time of day by the feel and sound of it.
2008, Kate Atkinson, When Will There Be Good News?, page 324:‘Tomorrow. Sleep over, then off at sparrow-fart. And the car will have plates.’
2012, Gerald Seymour, The Outsiders, Hachette UK, unnumbered page:
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(countable) A person or thing of no consequence.
‘The hell with the talented sparrowfarts who write delicately of one small piece of one mere lifetime, when the issues are galaxies, eons, and trillions of souls yet to be born.’
1965, Kurt Vonnegut, God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater, published 2011, unnumbered page:[…] Miss This Miss That Miss Theother lot of sparrowfarts skitting around talking about politics they know as much about as my backside […]
1922 February 2, James Joyce, “[Episode 18: Penelope]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company […], →OCLC:
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| sparrow fart | alternative | lexicographic | |
| sparrow's fart | alternative | lexicographic | |
| sparrow-farts | Number=Plur | lexicographic | |
| sparrowfart | alternative | lexicographic |
Synonyms
sunrise · waste of space · crack of dawn · cockcrow (dawn) · sunup · loser · morning
Translations (9)
fi aamuvarhainen (very early in the day) · fi hyttysen ininä (person or thing of no consequence) · fi hyttysen pieru (person or thing of no consequence) · fi hyttysenpaska (person or thing of no consequence) · scn matinata (very early in the day) · fi sianpieremä (very early in the day) · ru спозаранку (very early in the day) · scn matina-prestu (very early in the day) · scn scunchiudutu (person or thing of no consequence)