Never-Never

noun

the remote outback of Australia; unpopulated desert country

• Instance Hypernyms: ↑outback

• Part Holonyms: ↑Australian Desert, ↑Great Australian Desert

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Phrases

■ the never-never (Brit. informal). See hire purchase.

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I. \\| ̷ ̷ ̷ ̷| ̷ ̷ ̷ ̷\ noun (-s)

Etymology: short for never-never land, probably from reduplication of never + land

1. or never-never land also never-never country

a. Australia : sparsely settled country in the northern and western part of Queensland

b. : a remote or sparsely settled region : a barren or frontier area

c. : an ideal or imaginary place or region

that never-never land of true romance and pure love — Rollene W. Saal

2. : an illusory existence

3. [reduplication of never] Britain : a system of installment purchase

II. adjective

Etymology: never-never land

: characterized by an imaginary, idealistic, or fantastic quality

the never-never rhetoric … which had to do with perfect justice and perfect harmony — Jane Kramer

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/nev"euhr nev"euhr/, n.

1. See never-never land.

2. Brit. Slang. See hire-purchase system.

adj.

3. not real or true; imaginary or ideal; illusory: the never-never world of the cinema.

[1880-85]

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nevˈer-nevˈer noun

1. The hire-purchase system (informal)

2. (sometimes with cap) a remote, thinly peopled or desolate area (also never (or never-never) land or country; sometimes with caps)

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Main Entry: ↑never