PM Abbott's G20 'shirtfront' utterance leads to rethink of its meaning

The word "shirtfront" has been given a broader meaning thanks to Prime Minister Tony Abbott and the editors of the Macquarie Dictionary.

Once used solely as a colloquial term to describe a body slam in Australian Rules football, the nation's language gatekeepers have expanded the word's definition to include how it was employed by our PM.

In the lead up to a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Mr Abbott was asked how he intended to confront his counterpart about the shooting down of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17.

"I'm going to shirtfront Mr Putin," Mr Abbott told reporters.

Macquarie Dictionary editor Susan Butler wrote the worldwide furore that followed Mr Abbott's comment forced the lexicographers to have a rethink about its meaning.

"It would seem that Abbott is a revivalist, bringing this older political usage back into the limelight," Ms Butler wrote about the PM taking its meaning from the footy pitch.

"And it seems that, in this figurative sense, the word has moved out of politics into a broader domain. Anyone, man or woman, can shirtfront."

It was not, Ms Butler wrote, a "case of the dictionary being shirtfronted".

Read more: Russian expat baker glad 'shirtfront' comments took edge off rising anti-Russian tensions.

From next year, "shirtfront" will have another meaning in the Australian dictionary: "To confront someone with a complaint or grievance."

The dictionary previously drew criticism from some circles when it updated the definition of the word "misogyny" in 2012 after Julia Gillard used it to describe Mr Abbott in a speech in parliament.

Traditionally describing a hatred of women, the Mac broadened the term to mean "sexism, an entrenched prejudice against women".