black velvet

English

Pronunciation

• Audio (General Australian):

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Noun

black velvet (countable and uncountable, plural black velvets)

1. (Australia, uncountable, slang) An Australian aboriginal woman viewed by a white man as a sexual partner.
   • 1989, John Joseph Healy, Literature and the Aborigine in Australia‎^[1], page 162:

     But the Krater who introduces Mark to black velvet is totally human and, in his gestures, culpable.

   • 2002, John Maynard, Aboriginal Stars of the Turf: Jockeys of Australian Racing History‎^[2], page 105:

     Writer, Xavier Herbert, said that white men would refuse to work on remote stations without available Aboriginal women or ‘black velvet’.

2. (Australia, uncountable, slang) Sexual intercourse with an Australian aboriginal woman.
   • 2009, Jill Roe, Her Brilliant Career: The Life of Stella Miles Franklin‎^[3], page 494:

     Black velvet — that is, the sexual abuse of Aboriginal women — had become highly topical with the publication of Coonardoo and Capricornia, and Miles’ choices in this area still seem reasonable.

3. (countable, uncountable) A cocktail of stout and champagne (or sometimes a cheaper type of sparkling white wine).

Derived terms

• poor man's black velvet

References

• R. M. W. Dixon, Australian Aboriginal Words, Oxford University Press, 1990, →ISBN, page 212.