Dorothy Dixn.
/ˌdɒrəθɪ ˈdɪks/, U.S. /ˌdɔrəθi ˈdɪks/, Australian English /ˌdɔrəθi ˈdɪks/ Australian.
1. Politics. A parliamentary question which the respondent knows will be asked, intended to prompt a prepared reply. Also Dorothy Dix question.
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > rule or government > ruler or governor > deliberative, legislative, or administrative assembly > governing or legislative body of a nation or community > procedure of parliament or national assembly > [noun] > question put to minister > type of
private notice question1913
Dorothy Dix1941
1941 Through: Official Jrnl. Signals 8th Austral. Division Dec. 4 Rarely is it we can slip by our Dorothy Dix.
1963 Austral. Financial Rev. 31 Oct. 16/2 Queensland Senator Dame Annabelle Rankin may have been posing a ‘Dorothy Dix’ (political jargon for a planted question) to Senator Sir William Spooner.
1974 P. Blazey & A. Campbell Polit. Dice Men 90 Whitlam, in answer to a Dorothy Dix question, on April 11, roundly attacked Snedden's economic policy.
2005 Northern Territory News (Nexis) 13 Nov. 18 Ministers talked far too long in answer to Dorothy Dix questions from Labor's own backbench.
2. Cricket slang. A six.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > ball game > cricket > batting > [noun] > types of stroke > for specific number of runs
seven1765
four1837
single1851
five1859
sevener1862
sixer1870
fourer1875
two1881
twoer1887
thirteener1893
six1920
Dorothy Dix1979
society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > ball game > cricket > umpiring and scoring > [noun] > score > specific
century1864
boundary1896
Dorothy Dix1979
1979 Age (Melbourne) 2 July 9/5 He still laughs loudly about hitting a ‘George Moore’ (to the boundary) and a ‘Dorothy Dix’—or ‘Dorothy’ for short—over the fence.
1999 Herald (Glasgow) (Nexis) 28 Aug. 8 The occasional phrase such as..‘they'll need a hatful of Dorothies now!’ (Dorothy Dixes—sixes) is the reminder that he comes not from a different planet but a different hemisphere.
Derivatives
Dorothy ˈDixer n.
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1970 C. A. Hughes Govt. of Queensland (1980) 144 In all Parliaments..questions referred to by members as ‘Dorothy Dixers’ are part of the establishment.
1983 J. Hibberd & G. Hutchinson Barracker's Bible 131 Cosier had eight Georgie Moores and two Dorothy Dixers in his knock of 65.
2005 Australian (Nexis) 3 Dec. 29 Labor has misused its Dorothy Dixers to pummel the Opposition over cracks in the Coalition.
This is a new entry (OED Third Edition, June 2006; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1941