bloke
Part of speech: noun
Morphological type: simple
Topics: government
military
naval
navy
politics
war
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”).
Inflected forms:
form: blokes
pos: noun
tags: plural
form: bloak
pos: noun
tags: alternative
archaic
Senses:
gloss: A fellow, a man; especially an ordinary man, a man on the street.
pos: noun
tags: Commonwealth
Ireland
UK
informal
examples: 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. […]"
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.
Half-sheepishly, the mechanic had eased round to nudge his mate to look also at the comical-looking bloke. And the bloke caught them both. They wiped the grin off their faces. Because the little bloke looked at them quite straight, so observant, and so indifferent.
The door flew open, and there was a bloke with spectacles on his face and all round the spectacles an expression of strained anguish. A bloke with a secret sorrow.
Now, she messed around with a bloke named Smoky,
 She loved him though he was cokie, […]
No use, with a bloke like this, cracking up your own merits. Stick to the truth.
It was a Cockney bloke who had never seen a cow till he came inside. Cragg said it took some blokes like that, and city fellows are the worse.
[L]ots of blokes have impeccable music taste but don't read, lots of blokes read but are really fat, lots of blokes are sympathetic to feminism but have stupid beards, lots of blokes have a Woody Allen sense of humor but look like Woody Allen. Lots of blokes drink too much, lots of blokes behave stupidly when they drive cars, lots of blokes get into fights, or show off about money, or take drugs. I don't do any of these things, really; if I do OK with women, it's not because of the virtues I have, but because of the shadows I don't have.
As her current bloke was turning out better than expected, I didn't see much of her lately.
It was a concert of some sort. Five or so blokes were on stage in a TV studio; […] The blokes didn't look like any pop group as I knew them. They were multiracial, knotted of brow, their garb was distinctive, involving a lot of what I later found out to be cheesecloth and kaftans along with ripped, faded denims.
gloss: An exemplar of a certain masculine, independent male archetype.
pos: noun
tags: Australia
Commonwealth
New-Zealand
especially
examples: ‘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.
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.
My name is Charlie Staunton. I'm a bloke. […] In Australia, a bloke is the masculine archetype, associated with the country's national identity. […] And if you're a good bloke, you'll understand what sportsmanship, and life, should be about. A sense of fair play. For me, it's not a prerequisite to be a law-abiding citizen to be a good bloke. It's about social qualities. It's about being reliable, trustworthy, loyal and true to your beliefs.
gloss: A man who behaves in a particularly laddish or overtly heterosexual manner.
pos: noun
tags: Commonwealth
Ireland
UK
especially
informal
examples: 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.
[…] 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.
[H]e is a ‘blokes bloke’. A proper bloke, rather than something feminine or obviously dysfunctional.
One week I ask everyone I meet what defines a "bloke." Some of the answers are: Blokes drink beer, not wine. They wear black wool singlets (sleeveless shirts) and dark green shirt-jackets, gum boots, and rugby jerseys with sleeves cut off. They eat stews made with carrots and onions and potatoes and dumplings.
It [a television advertisement] opens with a young man lounging on a sofa watching television. The television soundtrack suggests he is watching sport (of course). He wears the standard checked shirt of the Kiwi bloke over a T-shirt and jeans, his hair is longish and unkempt, and he is generally a bit scruffy.
Now we don't want you thinking I'm someone who isn't a chef pretending to be a chef. That'll just end in a train wreck. No, we want you to trust your bloke DNA and start thinking the way a bloke naturally thinks, and that is like a bloke!
The ‘kiwi bloke’ is often represented as a stubbie-wearing, beer-drinking, sheep-shearing, ‘do-it-yourself’ heteronormative masculinity […] This hypermasculinisation is well-recognised in New Zealand culture. The ‘kiwi bloke’ is celebrated by the nation which leaves little room for the emergence and acceptance of alternative gender identities […].
gloss: (A lower deck term for) the captain or executive officer of a warship, especially one regarded as tough on discipline and punishment.
pos: noun
tags: Commonwealth
Ireland
UK
slang
examples: A second green chit and then you get your hat for a talk with the bloke.
gloss: An anglophone (English-speaking) man.
pos: noun
tags: Quebec
colloquial
examples: [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.
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."
Try as I might, my broken French is not passing muster. […] I am also called a bloke, or, when the students are pissed at me, maudit bloke or damn bloke, or a tête carrée, which means square head.
Derived words: blokecore
blokedom
blokeish
blokish
blokeishly
blokishly
blokeishness
blokishness
blokess
blokette
blokie
blokey
blokieness
blokiness
blokeyness
First Bloke
quarter-bloke
Translations: