English Explanatory Dictionary

whack

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. The sound of a heavy strike.
  2. The strike itself.
  3. The stroke itself, regardless of its successful impact.
  4. An attempt, a chance, a turn, a go, originally an attempt to beat someone or something.
  5. A share, a portion, especially a full share or large portion.
  6. A whack-up: a division of an amount into separate whacks, a divvying up.
  7. A deal, an agreement.
  8. A harmful outcome or repercussion.
  9. PCP, phencyclidine (also wack).
  10. The backslash, ⟨ \ ⟩.
verb
  1. To hit, slap or strike.
  2. To assassinate, bump off.
  3. To share or parcel out (often with up).
  4. To beat convincingly; to thrash.
  5. To surpass; to better.
  6. To attempt something despite not knowing how to do it; to take on a task spontaneously and carelessly without planning.
  7. To eat something hurriedly.
adj
  1. Alternative spelling of wack (“annoyingly or disappointingly bad”).

Pronunciation

/ˈwæk/ En-au-whack.ogg /ˈʍæk/ [ˈw̥æk]

Word forms

whack whacks whacking whacked whacker whackest

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”).

Synonyms

thwack clip

Derived words

cop one's whack full whack go whacks have a whack at out of whack sack-whack take a whack at top whack wacky whackjob whack out whack shack whack up whack-up whack one out anyhow whack whack-a-mole whack off whack the illy

Translations

Bulgarian: силен удар Chinese Mandarin: 重擊 /重击 Chinese Mandarin: 猛擊 /猛击 Chinese Mandarin: 打 Dutch: klop Finnish: mäjäys Finnish: täräytys Finnish: isku Finnish: läimäytys French: coup French: clac Galician: pancada Galician: mocada Galician: tombo Galician: zoupada Galician: zuco Galician: trambullón Galician: tordeón German: Schlag German: Hieb Italian: colpo Russian: уда́р Spanish: porrazo Spanish: trompazo Spanish: cebollazo
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