Meanings
plural Dads and Daves
- AustraliacolloquialhistoricalRemote rural farmers resembling the characters in Steele Rudd's "Dad and Dave" stories, especially seen as unsophisticated.
In vain I looked for the types I sought—old slop clothes, wheat growing out of their ears, real old Dads and Daves.
1936 October 10, The Mirror, Western Australia1 more example
The earlier lure for the pioneering of land has gone, and I think so far as Australians and Britishers are concerned there are not very many people aspiring to be "Dads" and "Daves".
1948, Parliamentary Debates, Western Australia parliament, page 100
Origin
From dad + and + Dave, after the names of the central characters in a series of short stories by Australian author Steele Rudd (1868–1935).
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
Dad and Dave. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Dad%20and%20Dave
“Dad and Dave.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Dad%20and%20Dave. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Dad and Dave,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Dad%20and%20Dave.
Source: Dad and Dave on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.