Word: bloke Part of Speech: noun Etymology: Origin unknown; the following borrowings have been hypothesized: * From a modern Celtic language, such as Irish bloc (“block”) or Scottish Gaelic ploc (“large, stubborn person”, literally “block of wood”), themselves borrowings from English block * From Hindustani لوک (lok) / लोक (lok, “people, folk”) or Shelta loke (“man”). Pronunciation: /bləʊk/, /bloʊk/ 1. A fellow, a man; especially an ordinary man, a man on the street. Labels: Commonwealth, Ireland, UK, informal Example: He accordingly opened it [a letter], and read as follows:– "Tim put on the tats yesterday and went out a durry-nakin on the shadows, gadding a hoof. He buzzed a bloak and a shakester of a yack and a skin. […]" […] we will lay before our readers a translation of the slang document:– "Tim dressed himself in rags yesterday, and went out disguised as a beggar half-naked and without shoes or stockings. He robbed a gentleman and a lady of a watch and a purse. […]" Example: Now I tell yer straight, I don't call it square for two big bloaks like us to tackle [i.e., steal from] one poor woman, and she a widder, and p'raps as 'ard up as us; it isn't English. 2. An exemplar of a certain masculine, independent male archetype. Labels: Australia, Commonwealth, New-Zealand, especially Example: ‘The Bloke’ is a certain kind of Australian or New Zealand male. […] The Classic Bloke is not a voluble beast. His speech patterns are best described as infrequent but colorful. […] The Bloke is pragmatic rather than classy. […] Most of all, the Bloke does not whinge. Example: Strong, bronzed, attractive, and, above all, incredibly Australian, Bloke’s Blokes bestride the world like colossi, less men than living gods, stepping from the pages of mythology into our hearts, and guiding us like mighty beacons upon the right and proper path of Blokedom. 3. A man who behaves in a particularly laddish or overtly heterosexual manner. Labels: Commonwealth, Ireland, UK, especially, informal Example: Even now he's like this weird guy who comes into my life occasionally and asks me bloke questions. Sport, girls, your future. Even superannuation. Once he even started telling me how important superannuation was. What a dickhead. Example: […] Pakeha, and colonial, masculinity is situated in a homosocial environment. This homosociality is both gendered and ethnicized. The kiwi bloke is a Pakeha working man, at home on the football field, in the sands of North Africa, at the pub (but in the public bar). He is a loner, hard, resolute, tall, strong but comradely and supports other men in their toils. 4. (A lower deck term for) the captain or executive officer of a warship, especially one regarded as tough on discipline and punishment. Labels: Commonwealth, Ireland, UK, slang Example: A second green chit and then you get your hat for a talk with the bloke. 5. An anglophone (English-speaking) man. Labels: Quebec, colloquial Example: [A]n organization called "Bloke Quebecois" ("bloke" being a French slang term for Anglophone as well as a reference to the newly formed federal political party, the Bloc Québécois) sold T-shirts that sported the phrase "It's Hip to be Square" (derived from the popular term for an Anglophone, "tête-carrée" or "square head") and a sign with "401" crossed out. The implication was that hitting the 401 was no longer an option; Anglophones were here to stay – and to contribute. Example: One cartoon from the period depicted a muscular French Canadian worker being replaced by an effeminate looking English Canadian man on the job. The caption warned, "When we are gone their blokes will come to take our place, to take our homes, and to take our women."