▪ I. Oscar1 Austral. and N.Z.
(ˈɒskə(r))
Also with lower-case initial.
[Rhyming slang on Oscar Asche (an Australian actor, 1871–1936).]
Cash, money.
| 1919 W. H. Downing Digger Dial. 36 Oscar, money. 1931 W. Hatfield Sheepmates xix. 161 Sit in, some o' yous that aint flyblown—.., an' their IOU's is good, if there's no real Oscar about the joint. 1942 L. Mann Go-Getter ii. 16 Get the oscar off Tom soon's I see him. He's honest. 1945 E. G. Webber Johnny Enzed in Middle East 20 ‘Well, me lending you my balance to get you out of the cart,’ said the bloke, ‘and them sending me the oscar so that you can pay it back.’ 1949 Newsweek 31 Oct. 60/2 He would have been glad to buy me a pail of suds if he'd had any Oscar. 1959 D. Niland Big Smoke i. 21 If you'd been fighting all those blokes in the ring you'd have more oscar in your kick now than the Prime Minister himself. 1969 [see dinkum B. adj.]. |
▪ II. Oscar2
[Said to be an arbitrary use of the Christian name of Oscar Pierce, 20th-c. American wheat and fruit grower (see below).]
One of the statuettes awarded by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Hollywood, U.S.A., for excellence in film acting, directing, etc. These awards have been made annually since 1928. So Oscar-winner, Oscar-winning.
A former secretary of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is said to have remarked in 1931 that the statuette reminded her of her ‘Uncle Oscar’, namely Oscar Pierce.
| 1936 Time 16 Mar. 56/2 Neither Director Ford nor Screenwriter Nichols appeared to claim their prizes—small gold statuettes which Hollywood calls ‘Oscars’. 1949 [see Emmy]. 1958 Punch 25 June 838/3 A quiet scene, with the camera in close-up, every word counting, and the actors playing for an Oscar. 1962 Times 30 Oct. 16/1 The Oscar-winning Fellini pictures. 1968 B. Foster Changing Eng. Lang. i. 45 The Oscar statuette is..gold-plated. 1974 Times 1 Mar. 13/4 Luis Buñuel's eminence as..1973 Oscar-winner. 1975 C. Nesbitt Little Love & Good Company xix. 246 If I were to start thanking the Lunts for all the gifts..that I have received from them I should sound like an Oscar-winning starlet. 1976 Southern Even. Echo (Southampton) 6 Nov. (Advt. Suppl.) 5/1 Ed Begley (he got an Oscar) as a vicious town boss whose daughter (Shirley Knight) gets ruined by Newman. |
b. In transf. use applied to any award for an outstanding performance or achievement.
| 1941 Time 2 June 82/2 That these trials..did not keep Producer Gabriel Pascal from turning out a polished and distinguished product is a transcendent Oscar in the one-time cavalryman's lap. 1947 Sun (Baltimore) 1 July 7/6 René Clair's ‘Silence Est D'Or’ (Silence Is Golden) won the grand prize of Brussels' world film competition today and was awarded the Belgian ‘Oscar’, a small statuette of Brussels' patron saint, St. Michael. 1949 Natural Hist. Nov. 417/3 If there are any ‘Oscars’ to be awarded in the world of animal acting, the vote of many naturalists will..go to the hognose snake. 1954 Economist 29 May 739/2 The first British ‘Oscar’ for a company report, represented by a pair of silver wall sconces, has been given to Thomas W. Ward. 1959 Times Lit. Suppl. 13 Nov. 662/3 Once a year it publishes an annual which is in effect a kind of collection of Oscars for design in these fields. 1963 Guardian 8 Feb. 8/2 An ensemble for spring..which won an export Oscar last year. 1971 Daily Tel. 18 Dec. 10 A local artist is being commissioned to make an ‘Oscar’ which will be presented annually to the publishing house which..has made the most distinctive contribution to literature. 1973 J. Wainwright Pride of Pigs 215 An Oscar-winning performance, lad. 1978 Guardian 27 Feb. 16/5 QPR had been given their first goal when an Oscar-winning dive in the penalty area by Shanks brought an unbelievable penalty decision from the referee. |