Phrase guide

southerly buster

noun · 1 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

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1

noun

Meaning 1

A summer cold front which works its way up the coast, bringing strong cool southerly winds that replaces and relieves hot conditions.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: Australia, New-South-Wales, Western

Examples

  • 1850, B. C. Peck, Recollections of Sydney, quoted in 1978, G. A. Wilkes, A Dictionary of Australian Colloquialisms, →ISBN, It is almost a corollary, that the evening of a hot-wind day brings up a ‘southerly buster’, as we have heard the vulgar call it, very chill indeed ... as this wind comes from the southerly region of the Australian Alps.
  • 1995, Journal of Meteorology, Volume 20, Issues 200-204, page 213, Some southerly busters have roll-clouds or lines of cumulus congestus, but these are uncommon.
  • 1997, Peter Baines, Kathy McInnes, 24. The southerly buster, Eric Kenneth Webb (editor), Windows on Meteorology: Australian Perspective, unnumbered page, The southerly buster is a particularly abrupt form of cold front which affects the New South Wales south coastal region, ranging from about Gabo Island to Port Macquarie.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

No etymology was provided for this word.