Entry revised for OED Online

domestic, a. and n.

DRAFT REVISION Apr. 2007

DRAFT ADDITIONS JUNE 2006

orig. and chiefly Police slang (orig. Brit.). A domestic disturbance, spec. one meriting police intervention; a (violent) quarrel between members of the same household, esp. between husband and wife.

1961 T. K. MARTIN Z Cars (B.B.C. TV script) Episode 1 (2nd draft) 21 You
just sent Seaport Crime Car to that domestic, here at Newtown?

1963 Austral. TV Times 18 Apr. 10/1 Domestic, a row at a private house [in the British television programme Z Cars]. 1982 I. GORDON in N.Z. Listener 12 June 82/2 Policemen are trained to approach with care what they call 'a domestic'. 1990 Independent 1 Aug. 3/2 A policeman came up because he was shouting at me, but saw my daughter... He said to his companion, 'Oh, it's OK, it's only a domestic' and went away. 1998 H. M. MALTON Down in Dumps iv. 27 You get called out on a domestic... You arrive, and there's some guy just whaling away on his wife, or girlfriend, or whatever.