UNEMPLOYED
ADJECTIVES
► AT LIBERTY unemployed → 20C Amer. sl.
► BEACHED laid aside, discarded; unemployed → 1955
► DOWN THE TUBES fired; unemployed → 1970 US students’ sl. (Bk.)
► IN DRY DOCK inactive, unemployed; in quarantine; in hospital → 1927 colloq.
► OFF not working; not engaged → 1861 US sl.
► ON THE BEACH unemployed; out of work → 1941 US sl.
► ON THE NUT unemployed → 1971 sl.
NOUNS
► LUMPERS a lump sum paid as compensation for loss of employment → 1960 sl.
► MAGGIE’S MILLIONS the unemployed during the premiership of Margaret Thatcher → 1984 Brit. sl.
NOUNS – PERSON
► ARTIST FOR THE GOVERNMENT a person who draws unemployment insurance payments → 1993 Can. sl.
► BAGMAN an unemployed itinerant in the depression of the 1930s → 1931 Aust.
► BATLAN a lazy person, a loafer, a good-for-nothing; a jobless person; an idler or someone unsuitable for any employment → 1982 Yiddish (Bk.)
► BILLET-HUNTER a job-seeker → 1900-10 Aust. sl.
► BIRD one who has been dismissed from a job → 1905 Aust. sl.
► GENTLEMAN a person who from age or any other cause is incapacitated from work → 1886 Eng. dial. (Bk.)
► GENTLEMAN-AT-LARGE a gentleman attached to the court but having no special duties assigned to him; hence, jocularly, one who is out of work; one of the unemployed → 1692 obs.
► HAPPY-PAPPY a man on welfare employed to do work on roads or just draw money; a man on the dole → 1969 Amer. dial.
► IDLE JUBBIE a young unemployed person → 1990s W. Indies sl.
► INSPECTOR OF CITY BUILDINGS a person looking for work → 1999 Aust. sl., obs. (Bk.)
► INSPECTOR OF PAVEMENTS a man out of work → 1896 sl. (Bk.)
► SHUFFLER a worker who is out of a job → 1974 Amer. sl. (Bk.)
► SMACKO a street person; an unemployed person; a hoodlum → 1940s African-American sl.
► VACANT one who has held office but is for the time being unemployed or in retirement → 1602 obs.
► WALKING GENTLEMAN a man without occupation → 1827 Ireland
PHRASES
► WORKING FOR STREET, WALKER & CO. out of work, and walking the streets in search of it → c1920 Aust.
VERBS
► LAKE to idle, to trifle; to stop work, to be out of employment → 1856 Eng. dial.
► WANT AN APRON to be out of work → L19 sl.
► WORK AT IDLE HALL to be unemployed → 20C W. Indies sl.
► WORK FOR STREET AND WALKER to be unemployed and walking the streets in search of a job → 1900s Aust. sl.
Lexicophilia 