Language: en
Meaning: (idiomatic,Australia,New Zealand)A very smallamount, or theabsoluteminimum(usually ofmoney).1896, Dayrell Davies, "Sport with the Brigands of Macedonia,"The Badminton Magazine of Sports and Pastimes, Longmans, Green, and Co., no. XII (July to December 1896), v. III,pg. 65:We have found them in the remote corners of Asia Minor,sans souliers,sans culottes, often in rags, living on thesmell of an oily ragor a raw onion, trying their best to preserve order where their own miserable officials have brought shame and disgrace upon their tarnished colours.1998, Ian Shaw, quoted in Richard Strauss,Up for Rego: A Social History of the Holden Kingswood, Pluto Press Australia,→ISBN,pg. 33:Full of bog, goes anywhere you want to go, don't pay for insurance, runs on thesmell of an oily rag.1999, Stephen Alomes,When London Calls: The Expatriation of Australian Creative Artists, page133:... they did not prepare someone for thesmell-of-an-oily-ragbudgets and ratings-driven world of Australian commercial television.2008, Susan Napier,Accidental Mistress, page59:They're prone to giving away their rations and living off thesmell of an oily rag.2009May 1, Nick Bryant, “'Selling' Queensland with a dream job”, inBBC News:"We did it on thesmell of an oily rag", says Danielle Kootman of Tourism Queensland.2010, Gai Waterhouse,Gai In My Words, page146:They had thesmell of an oily ragto work on.2012, John Clarke,A Dagg at My Table: Selected Writings, page88:There remains ABC Radio, which is the best known example of the relationship between thesmell of an oily ragand the will to keep going.
Validation Count: 0
Sourced from Wiktionary