Definitions For Wowser

Interjection

{{en-interj}} Alternate form of wowsers

Noun

WOWSER (plural WOWSERs) Alternate form of wowzer

Etymology 1

From UK dialect. In the pro-temperance sense, Australian from early 1900s. w:john norton (australian journalist), john norton, an early enemy of wowsers (temperance sense), claimed it to be an acronym for "We Only Want Social Evils Remedied", but that is likely a folk etymology. A story has it that gospellers in the streets of w:clunes, victoria, clunes, victoria in the 1870s were called rousers but one of the town councillors had a speech impediment and couldn't pronounce his "R"s, thus giving wowser. (Reference: Bill Wannan, Australian Folklore, Lansdowne Press, 1970, reprint 1979 {{ISBN, 0-7018-1309-1}}, under "Wowser", page 568.)