zambuk

zambuk

See also: Zambuk and Zam-Buk

English

WOTD – 25 April 2023

Etymology 1

From Zam-Buk, a type of healing ointment originally manufactured in England, United Kingdom;[1][2] further origin uncertain.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General Australian) IPA^(key): /ˈzæmbʌk/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈzæmˌbʌk/
• (New Zealand) IPA^(key): /ˈzɛmbʌk/
• Rhymes: -æmbʌk
• Hyphenation: zam‧buk

Noun

zambuk (plural zambuks)

1. (Australia, New Zealand, informal) A first-aider, especially one from St. John Ambulance attending at a sports event.
   • 1957 April 14, David Burke, “He slept in a police cell: Oldest ambulance man looks back”, in The Sun-Herald, 2nd edition, Sydney, N.S.W.: John Fairfax and Sons, ISSN 1323-1987, OCLC 781546723, page 32, columns 1–2:

     “C’mon ‘Zambuk,’ what’s keeping yer!” the old-time football crowds would yell when one over-eager barracker k.o.’d an opposition supporter. Spencer Middlemiss sat back in a chair at his Mascot home last week, and, surrounded by a pile of certificates, photographs and cuttings, proudly confessed that he was one of the original “Zambuks.”

   • 1966 March 17, quoting Marjorie Higgins, “And how is your first aid? Do you know what to do until the doctor comes?”, in The Sydney Morning Herald, number 40,013, late edition, Sydney, N.S.W.: John Fairfax and Sons, ISSN 1323-1987, OCLC 781546723, Women’s Section, page 8:

     The Hospitaller's Clubs, who work for the Hospital of St. John, an op[h]thalmic hospital in Jerusalem, and the St. John Ambulance Brigade, they're the voluntary uniform body, the Zambuks on the football field and the women in white who look after fainting people in big crowds …

   • 2005, Trevor L. White, chapter 6, in Death at the Post, [Bloomington, Ind.]: Xlibris, published 2012, →ISBN, page 67:

     When I came past the accident scene I couldn't believe it—the driver was walking around, though he was breathing a little huskily. As the ambulance by that time had arrived I told one of the zambucks.

   • 2007, Michael O’Sullivan, “Another Sunday Morning”, in Easter at Tobruk, [Sydney, N.S.W.]: ReadHowYouWant, published 2008, →ISBN, part 2, page 59:

     ‘You’re still bleeding from that wound on the head. Tiger’ll put a dressing on it.’ / ‘Aw, call the Zambuck,’ he protested. / […] / ‘Zambuck’s the first aid man at the footy—you know, St John’s Ambulance. They’re called that ’cause of the ointment they carry.’

   • 2009, Graeme Hunt, “Post-war Challenges”, in First to Care: 125 Years of the Order of St John in New Zealand 1885–2010, Auckland: Libro International; Wellington: Waddington Press for the Priory in New Zealand of the Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of St John of Jerusalem, →ISBN, image caption, page 182:

     All Black lock Tiny White (born 1925) being taken from the field by zambuks in the fourth New Zealand–South Africa rugby test, Eden Park, Auckland, 1 September 1956.

   • 2010, Alix Bosco [pseudonym; Greg McGee], chapter 47, in Slaughter Falls, [Sydney, N.S.W.]: ReadHowYouWant, →ISBN, pages 414–415:

     We better tell them the shooting is over, otherwise the cops won't let the zambucks come up to get Cathy.

Alternative forms

• zambuck, Zambuk

Translations

first-aider — see first-aider

Etymology 2

See sambuq.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈzæmbuːk/, /ˈsæm-/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈzæmˌbuk/, /ˈsæm-/
• Hyphenation: zam‧buk

Noun

zambuk (plural zambuks)

1. Alternative spelling of sambuq

References

1. “zambuk, n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, June 2021; “zambuk, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
2. J[ack] A[rthur] W[alter] Bennett (1970), “English as It is Spoken in New Zealand”, in W[illiam] S[tanley] Ramson, editor, English Transported: Essays on Australasian English, Canberra, A.C.T.: Australian National University Press, →ISBN, page 82: “Thus Zambuk, a brand of ointment, is regularly used for a 'first-aid man' (usually a member of the St John Ambulance Corps), or even as an appeal for first-aid; […].”

Further reading

• Zam-Buk on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• sambuk on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Eric Partridge (2005), “zambuck”, in Tom Dalzell and Terry Victor, editors, The New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English, volume 2 (J–Z), London; New York, N.Y.: Routledge, →ISBN, page 2149, column 2.
• Max Cryer (2006), “Zambuck”, in The Godzone Dictionary of Favourite New Zealand Words and Phrases, Auckland: Exisle Publishing, →ISBN, page 187.
• John Ayto; John Simpson (2008), “zambuk”, in The Oxford Dictionary of Modern Slang, 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, published 2010, →ISBN, page 370, column 1.