send her down Hughie

English

Alternative forms

• send it down Hughie

Etymology

Hughie (“diminutive of Hugh, a male give name”) is a god of rain, addressed as an ordinary person.

Pronunciation

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

Interjection

send her down Hughie!

1. (Australia) An appeal for continued rain, invoked when it comes after a long drought. [From 1912.]
   • 1948, Katharine Susannah Prichard, Golden Miles‎^[1], page 425:

     All night it poured down but Dinny grinned and applauded.
     ‘Send her down, Hughie!’ he cried, as the diggers used to on Coolgardie and Hannans.

   • 1970, Colin Thiele, Labourers in the Vineyard‎^[2], page 229:

     The wind was bucking round to the west and heavy rain had started again.
     “Send her down, Hughie!” he said under his breath, thinking with satisfaction of the soil being gouged out of Sunderland′s paddock and carried off into the rising river.

   • 2010, Jackie French, A Waltz for Matilda‎^[3]:

     ‘Ah, that′s it, send her down, Hughie!’ he yelled at the sky.
     ‘Hughie?’
     ‘The rain, my darlin'. Hughie sends down the rain.’
     ‘You mean God?’ she asked, shocked. Aunt Ann was firm about not taking the Lord′s name in vain.
     ‘Nah. Hughie′s just ... Hughie. […] ’

Usage notes

Reportedly also used by surfers appealing for good waves.