Word.ws English Dictionary

turps

UK/tɜːps/US/tɝps/

turps noun: turpentine or turpentine substitute.

Noun (1)

turps (uncountable)

  1. (informal) Turpentine or turpentine substitute.
  2. (Australia, New Zealand, slang) Any alcoholic drink.
    • ‘No flamin’ good for anyone, wimmin. Leave ’em alone, I says. Stick to the old turps, I says.’1960, J. E. Macdonnell, Don't Gimme the Ships, Melbourne: Horwitz Publications, page 111
    • Generally, big nights on the turps take place in The Rocks and around Kings Cross — where you'll hear and smell the action pretty quickly.2005, Paul Smitz, Australia & New Zealand on a Shoestring, page 72

Noun (2) capitalized: TURPs

TURPs

  1. (plural) plural of TURP

Origin of turps

Clipping of turpentine + -s (diminutive suffix).

Words formed from turps

Words that rhyme with turps

Questions about turps

What does turps mean?
Turps means turpentine or turpentine substitute.
What part of speech is turps?
Turps is a noun.
How do you pronounce turps?
Turps is pronounced /tɝps/ (US).

Words near turps in the dictionary

  1. turpins
  2. turpit
  3. turpitude
  4. turpitudes
  5. turpitudinous
  6. turps
  7. turpsier
  8. turpsiest
  9. turpsy
  10. Turpu Kapu
  11. Turquet's octopus

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: turps (page history and authors); TURPs (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-au-turps.ogg.

Cite this entry: “turps.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/turps. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.