whack
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /wæk/
note: without the wine–whine merger
ipa: /ʍæk/
rhymes: -æk
homophone: wack (wine–whine merger)
Forms: form: whacks
form: whacking
form: whacked
form: whacked
Etymology: Uncertain. Originally Scottish; probably onomatopoeic, but compare Middle English thakken, from Old English þaccian (whence Modern thwack by conflation with whack). Sense 6 of the verb is likely a semantic loan from Malay hentam (“to strike; to do something carelessly”).
Senses: examples: text: The bat whacked the baseball.
text: Therefore he whacked the old nigger mercilessly, while a big crowd of his people watched him, thunderstruck, till some man, - I was told the chief's son, - in desperation at hearing the old chap yell, made a tentative jab with a spear at the white man - and of course it went quite easy between the shoulder-blades.
ref: 1899 February, Joseph Conrad, “The Heart of Darkness”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume CLXV, number M, New York, N.Y.: The Leonard Scott Publishing Company, […], →OCLC, part I, page 198:
text: G. W. Cable
Rodsmen were whacking their way through willow brakes.
glosses: To hit, slap or strike.
examples: text: Niko Bellic: So you want me to talk to him? / Jimmy Pegorino: I want you to whack him! And after that I want you to kill all the other rats I surround myself with...
ref: 2008 April 29, Rockstar, Grand Theft Auto 4, Take-Two Interactive, level/area: Flatline:
text: Ken Barrett, a loyalist gunman who eventually confessed to killing Mr. Finucane on orders from the paramilitary Ulster Defense Association, told a BBC investigative reporter, John Ware, that when he’d expressed reluctance about “whacking” a solicitor[…]
ref: 2023 August 30, Megan K. Stack, Rob Stothard, “He Was Shot 14 Times at the Dinner Table. His Children Want to Know if Britain Ordered the Hit.”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:
synonyms: clip
glosses: To assassinate, bump off.
examples: text: to whack the spoils of a robbery
text: When the sewer-hunters consider they have searched long enough […] the gang […] count out the money they have picked up, and proceed to dispose of the old metal, bones, rope, &c.; this done, they then, as they term it, “whack” the whole lot; that is, they divide it equally among all hands.
ref: 1851, Henry Mayhew, London Labour and the London Poor, volume 2, London: G. Newbold, page 152:
glosses: To share or parcel out (often with up).
examples: text: The fidgety Majors were whacked 9-1 by the Kitchener Panthers at Couch and now trail their rivals 2-0 in an increasingly uncomfortable best-of-seven Intercounty Baseball League first-round series.
ref: 2012, Ryan Pyette, Majors, Panthers play mind games, The London Free Press
topics: hobbies
lifestyle
sports
glosses: To beat convincingly; to thrash.
examples: text: Recently I was over in Ireland, I love the place, proper fishing, can't whack it!
ref: 2012, Steve Cullen, Total Flyfisher:
glosses: To surpass; to better.
raw_tags: in the negative
examples: text: Miss Loi always tells her students not to anyhow whack, stay calm and know thy approach before attempting each question.
ref: 2007 September 17, “Composite Functions – Anyhow Whack Time!”, in exampaper.com.sg:
glosses: To attempt something despite not knowing how to do it; to take on a task spontaneously and carelessly without planning.
glosses: To eat something hurriedly.
Derived terms: word: anyhow whack
word: whack-a-mole
word: whack off
word: whack one out
word: whack the illy