dole bludger
- noun
- Offensive
:
vividor del subsidio
- He was labeled a dole bludger because he never looked for a job despite receiving benefits.
Examples
-
Many believe that the media unfairly stereotypes all recipients as dole bludgers without understanding their situations.
-
The community organized a meeting to discuss how to help dole bludgers find employment.
-
A bribe of a new 'entry level' house for the unwashed dole bludger but potential lefty voter.
Blog text (10)
Synonyms
A person who makes money by using others' government welfare money
Antonyms
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly built from the two constituents: 'dole' (government unemployment benefits) + 'bludger' (someone who shirks work), so the combined sense—someone who lives off benefits and avoids work—is predictable from the parts. It is informal and regionally Australian, but compositional enough that a B1 learner who knows both words would readily infer the MWE meaning.
Etymology
Dole bludger joins the word dole, the money people get when they are out of work, and bludger, an Australian word for someone who avoids work. Picture a person who stays on the 'dole' while not looking for a job, and that's why it means 'someone living on unemployment benefits without trying to work'.