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Webster 1913 Edition


Whack

Whack

,
Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Whacked
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Whacking
.]
[Cf.
Thwack
.]
1.
To strike; to beat; to give a heavy or resounding blow to; to thrash; to make with whacks.
[Colloq.]
Rodsmen were
whacking
their way through willow brakes.
G. W. Cable.

Whack

,
Verb.
I.
To strike anything with a smart blow.
To whack away
,
to continue striking heavy blows;
as,
to whack away
at a log
.
[Colloq.]

Whack

,
Noun.
1.
A smart resounding blow.
[Colloq.]

Webster 1828 Edition


Whack

WHACK

,
Verb.
T.
To strike. This is probably the primary word on which is formed thwack. [See Twit.] Whack is a vulgar word.

Definition 2024


whack

whack

English

Noun

whack (plural whacks)

  1. The sound of a heavy strike.
  2. The strike itself.
  3. The stroke itself, regardless of its successful impact.
  4. (US, slang) An attempt, a chance, a turn, a go, originally an attempt to beat someone or something.
    C'mon. Take a whack at it.
    40 bucks a whack.
  5. (originally Britain cant, dated) A share, a portion, especially a full share or large portion.
    • 1938, Xavier Herbert, Capricornia, Chapter VII, page 108,
      " [] O'Cannon's a taxpayer. He pays his whack towards the upkeep of the State School up in town—"
    • 1951, Katherine Mansfield, Letters to John Middleton Murry, 1913-1922,
      For one thing I had a splendid supper when I got on board—a whack of cold, lean beef and pighells, bread, butter ad lib., tea, and plenty of good bread.
    • 2014, Anthony Pritchard, Grand Prix Ferrari (page 203)
      There were problems over the installation of the engine and the handling. The team had paid top whack for the two Coopers, but the company gave them no help at all.
  6. (obsolete) A whack-up: a division of an amount into separate whacks, a divvying up.
  7. (US, obsolete) A deal, an agreement.
    • 1876, Mark Twain, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Ch. vi, page 70:
      "I'll stay if you will."
      "Good—that's a whack."
    It's a whack!
  8. (typography, computing, slang) The backslash, \⟩.
    del c:\WINDOWS\system32
    Delete c colon whack Windows whack system32.

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

whack (third-person singular simple present whacks, present participle whacking, simple past and past participle whacked)

  1. To hit, slap or strike.
    • G. W. Cable
      Rodsmen were whacking their way through willow brakes.
  2. (slang) To kill, bump off.
  3. (transitive, slang) To share or parcel out; often with up.
    to whack the spoils of a robbery
  4. (sports) To beat convincingly; to thrash.
    • 2012, Ryan Pyette, Majors, Panthers play mind games, The London Free Press:
      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.
  5. (Britain, usually in the negative) To surpass; to better.
    • 2012, Steve Cullen, Total Flyfisher:
      Recently I was over in Ireland, I love the place, proper fishing, can't whack it!

Synonyms

  • See also Wikisaurus:kill

Translations

Derived terms

Adjective

whack (comparative whacker, superlative whackest)

  1. Alternative form of wack (crazy)
    That's whack, yo!
    • 2007, Joyce E. Davis, Can't Stop The Shine, page 51:
      As they joked about the big butts on female celebrities and what rappers had the whackest lyrics, Malcolm paid little attention to Kalia besides squeezing her hand or grabbing her arm to hold himself up []

References

  • Oxford English Dictionary, 1st ed. "whack, n." Oxford University Press (Oxford), 1923.