Meanings
plural Bishop Barkers
- AustraliaobsoleteslangA very tall glass of beer.
1898, Price Warung, Dictionary Ned, in Half-Crown Bob and Tales of the Riverine, quoted in 1970, Bill Wannan, Australian Folklore, For a "Bishop Barker" he would compose a quatrain on any subject – a person preferred – suggested by the man who tipped him the drink […] .
1 more example
Henry lays a shilling down on the wet bar towel at the Lass, asks Murwillumbah Marie for some ship′s biscuits or cheese but they don't do them on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays any more, and he brings back two cold, foaming Bishop Barkers.
2007, Pip Wilson, Faces in the Street: Louisa and Henry Lawson and the Castlereagh Street Push, page 155
Origin
After Frederic Barker, who became the second Anglican bishop of Sydney, Australia, in 1855 and was noted for his height and for being a teetotaller. The expression became obsolete in the 1870s.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
Bishop Barker. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Bishop%20Barker
“Bishop Barker.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Bishop%20Barker. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Bishop Barker,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Bishop%20Barker.
Source: Bishop Barker on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.