Definitions For Fossick

Verb

{{en-verb}} (intransitive, Australia, Britain, New Zealand) To search#verb, search for something; to rummage. (intransitive, Australia, Britain, New Zealand, specifically) To elicit information; to ferret#verb, ferret out. from mid 19th c. {{quote-journal, en, author=Francis Longmore, authorlink=Francis Longmore, title=Address in Reply to the Governor’s Speech, journal=Victoria. Parliamentary Debates. Session 1872. Legislative Council and Legislative Assembly, location=Melbourne, Vic., publisher=John Ferres, printer, date=28 May 1872, volume=XIV (Comprising the Period from April 30 to September 4), page=389, pageurl=https://books.google.com/books?id=cis-AAAAYAAJ&pg=PA389, column=1, oclc=639755348, passage=[T]he honorable member went to the Railway department, and fossicked about for information, and he found, forsooth, that there had been a little rise in the salary of a son of a member of the House.}} (intransitive, Australia, Britain, New Zealand, specifically) To search#verb, search for gems, gold, etc., on the surface#noun, surface or in abandoned#adjective, abandoned workings. {{quote-book, en, author=J. A. Patterson, chapter=Mining and Miners, title=The Gold Fields of Victoria in 1862, location=Melbourne, Vic., publisher=Wilson & Mackinnon, 78, w:collins street, melbourne, collins street east; w:george robertson (publisher), g[eorge] robertson, w:elizabeth street, melbourne, elizabeth street; Sands & MacDougall, Collins Street West, month=December, year=1862, page=317, pageurl=https://books.google.com/books?id=Is8NAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA317, oclc=17617227, passage=The "fossicker" is one who wanders about old diggings, armed with a knife and pan, and who seldom sinks or drives, but "fossicks" or searches about the old heaps of dirt, or in the bottoms of deserted shafts and drives, keen-eyed after unobserved gold.}} {{quote-book, en, author=William Pember Reeves, authorlink=William Pember Reeves, chapter=The Labour Question, title=State Experiments in Australia and New Zealand, location=London, publisher=G. Richards, year=1902, volume=2, oclc=493371024, title2=State Experiments in Australia and New Zealand, series2=Cambridge Library Collection, location2=New York, N.Y., publisher2={{w, Cambridge University Press}}, year2=2011, page2=221, pageurl2=https://books.google.com/books?id=5XXqPHrasDYC&pg=PA221, isbn2=978-1-108-03059-5, passage=In New South Wales the bureau has been able to dispose of a large contingent of the workless by sending them to fossick for gold on old or deserted goldfields.}} {{quote-book, en, author=Ron Moon, author2=Viv Moon [et al.], title=Outback Australia: a Lonely Planet Australia Guide, location=Hawthorn, Vic.; Oakland, Calif., publisher=w:lonely planeta, lonely planet publications, year=1994, page=118, column=2, isbn=978-0-86442-239-2, passage=The best way to fossick on old dumps is to either sieve material from untouched areas (you'd do this on the opal fields) or drag down the sides with a rake. You can also find gemstones by closely examining the surface without necessarily disturbing it.}} {{quote-book, en, author=Paul Harding, author2=Susannah Farfor, author3=Lindsay Brown, title=Northern Territory & Central Australia, location=Hawthorn, Vic., publisher={{w, Lonely Planet}}, year=2006, page=52, isbn=978-1-74104-224-5, passage=In order to fossick you must first obtain a fossicking permit (free). They are available from the tourist offices in Darwin and Alice Springs, or Gemtree {{...}} in the Harts Range. Permission to fossick on freehold land and mineral leases must be obtained from the owner or leaseholder.}} (intransitive, British dialect) To be troublesome.

Synonyms

to search for gems, gold, etc. noodle, id=fossick

Derived terms

fossicker fossicking, pos=noun

Related terms

fussicky {{qualifier, possibly related}}

Translations

Maori: ketuketu Maori: ketuketu

Etymology

, australian capital territory. (sense 2.2)]] Probably from {{glossary, dialectal}} fossick, , to ferret out,{{R:Lexico}} fossuck, , troublesome person, fussick, , to potter over one's work, fussock, , to bustle about, further origin uncertain. Compare fuss.