DCHP-2

bush party DCHP-2 (October 2016)

• n. — especially Ontario & Yukon, Social customs

  a party held at night in a wooded area, usually by young people, to avoid parental or police control of the consumption of intoxicants.

  Type: 5. Frequency — The general meaning of 'bush' as a woodland (see OED-3, s.v. "bush" (9a)) seems to be an adaptation of the Dutch bosch "in colonies originally Dutch" and is not limited to Canada (see OED-3, s.v. "bush" (9a)). As Chart 1 shows, the term is more frequent in Canada than in the US or the UK. Within Canada, the term is most frequent in Ontario (and Yukon) (see Chart 2).
  For 'bush', see also COD-2, s.v. "bush party", which marks the term "Cdn".

  See also: bush line  mechoui  

  • 1988  A letter presented this week from a group called Concerned Teens in the West End urges council to establish such a club in a new recreation complex under construction on Katimavik Road. "That will help keep some teens off the streets and out of bush parties," says the letter. 
  • 1996  The 1993 collision occurred on a hill at the Forks of the Credit Rd., when a car loaded with young people leaving a bush party attempted to pass another car. 
  • 2007  Besides that, it could cost his business tens of thousands of dollars each year, he said, while increasing the likelihood of illegal booze cans or bush parties firing up. 
  • 2013  That stuff has been going on for decades, at bush parties to high school dances. Most end with a busted nose or a fat lip, not police charges and the intensive care unit.