What it means
Tight men's swim briefs, especially the tiny Aussie kind that leave absolutely nothing to the imagination. The joke is that the front bulge looks like someone's hiding a budgie in there. Peak beach banter, a bit feral, a bit heroic, and impossible to ignore.
Usage examples
"Uncle Kev rocked up to the family barbecue in his budgie smugglers like he was about to compete at the Olympics. Nan nearly dropped the pavlova."
"He strolled down the beach in a tiny pair of budgie-smugglers, no shame at all."
"I'm not wearing budgie-smugglers to the pool, give me proper board shorts."
"Baz rocked up in bright green budgie smugglers and suddenly the whole beach had opinions."
"No one's saying you can't wear budgie smugglers, mate, but maybe give the rest of us a warning first."
Where it comes from
This one's straight out of Australian slang. Budgie is Aussie for a budgerigar, and smugglers are people sneaking stuff across borders. Put it together and you've got the classic joke that those tiny swim briefs make it look like a bloke's hiding a small bird down the front. The name caught on hard in Australia.
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