sparrow-fart

plural sparrow-farts · alternative sparrowfart · alternative sparrow fart · alternative sparrow's fart

1. AustraliaNew ZealandUKslanguncountableA time very early in the day; dawn.

   It felt unnaturally early, sparrowfart time of day by the feel and sound of it.

   2008, Kate Atkinson, When Will There Be Good News?, page 324

   3 more examples

   “I was sick of working from sparrow fart as station cook and general dogs-body.”

   1993, Patti Walkuski, No Bed of Roses: Memoirs of a Madam, page 111

   ‘Took a girl to the flicks, had to get her back to Birkenhead, some goon in a tin hat and armband ordered us to take shelter in the Underground. No bloody option. So I didn′t get her home until sparrow-fart and her father didn′t believe us, turned quite nasty.’

   2005, Alexander Fullerton, Non-Combatants, Hachette UK, unnumbered page

   ‘Tomorrow. Sleep over, then off at sparrow-fart. And the car will have plates.’

   2012, Gerald Seymour, The Outsiders, Hachette UK, unnumbered page

   Synonyms: cockcrow

2. countableA person or thing of no consequence.

   […] Miss This Miss That Miss Theother lot of sparrowfarts skitting around talking about politics they know as much about as my backside […]

   1922 February 2, James Joyce, “[Episode 18: Penelope]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company […], →OCLC

   1 more example

   ‘The hell with the talented sparrowfarts who write delicately of one small piece of one mere lifetime, when the issues are galaxies, eons, and trillions of souls yet to be born.’

   1965, Kurt Vonnegut, God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater, published 2011, unnumbered page