Captain's Call is word of the year

They may not have helped Tony Abbott stay in The Lodge, but his captain's calls have won him a special accolade.

The term, originally limited to cricket jargon has been used to describe some of the former prime minister's contentious decisions.

It has been named word of the year by Macquarie Dictionary after encapsulating 2015 in politics.

The deciding committee said “An infrequent item of the jargon of cricket makes the leap into politics and is now being used generally with an ironic tinge to it that is very Australian.”

Honourable mentions included:

Lumbersexual: noun an urban male who wishes to associate himself by his appearance with a rugged outdoors way of life, as by wearing outdoor clothes such as check shirts, jeans and large boots combined with a beard as typical of a lumberjack.

Deso: noun Colloquial a designated driver. Also, deso driver.