two-up

Definitions

A game of chance, played by betting on the outcome of two pennies thrown in the air.

Australia, New-Zealand, uncountable

Examples

“From the image of a wily digger playing two-up, to a prime minister at the track or the tables, the construction of gambling is as an activity quintessentially Australian.”

“The origins of two-up remain⟳ obscure. It probably derived from ‘pitch and toss’, a game British youths had played since the late eighteenth century. In Australia pitch and toss was first recorded in the 1850s on the Victorian goldfields, and in New Zealand as a street game on the West Coast in the early 1870s. Two-up evolved as a variant, becoming popular in Australia in the early 1890s, and in New Zealand a year or two later, as labouring men from both countries traversed the Tasman Sea in search⟳ of work⟳.”

“Perversely, Scorps chooses not to punt on Anzac Day and won′t go near two-up, probably because his losses will be too public.”

CEFR level