/wæk/, /ʍæk/
OriginUncertain. 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”).
- The sound of a heavy strike.
- The strike itself.
“Saka was a threat from the first whistle; Ukraine rightly wary of him and dishing out the usual whacks.”
- The stroke itself, regardless of its successful impact.
- US, slangAn 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.”
“The number arrested is not over 600 — at $805 a whack, New Jersey has made half-a-million dollars arresting gay men.”
- datedA share, a portion, especially a full share or large portion.
“I don’t care about much wine afterwards—I take my whack at dinner—I mean my share, you know; and when I have had as much as I want I toddle up to tea.”
““It’s damned tame, whatever it is, comin’ in here at feedin’ time an’ gettin’ its whack of fish.””
““[…] O'Cannon's a taxpayer. He pays his whack towards the upkeep of the State School up in town—””
- obsoleteA whack-up: a division of an amount into separate whacks, a divvying up.
- US, obsoleteA deal, an agreement.
“"I'll stay if you will."
"Good—that's a whack."”
“It's a whack!”
- datedPCP, phencyclidine (as also wack).
- slangThe backslash, ⟨ \ ⟩.
“del c:\docs\readme.txt
Delete c colon whack docs whack readme dot text.”
- To hit, slap or strike.
“The bat whacked the baseball.”
“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,”
“G. W. Cable
Rodsmen were whacking their way through willow brakes.”
- slangTo assassinate, bump off.
“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...”
“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”
- slang, transitiveTo share or parcel out (often with up).
“to whack the spoils of a robbery”
“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”
- To beat convincingly; to thrash.
“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.”
- UKTo surpass; to better.
“Recently I was over in Ireland, I love the place, proper fishing, can't whack it!”
- Singapore, SinglishTo attempt something despite not knowing how to do it; to take on a task spontaneously and carelessly without planning.
“Miss Loi always tells her students not to anyhow whack, stay calm and know thy approach before attempting each question.”
- Singapore, SinglishTo eat something hurriedly.
Formswhacks(plural) · whacks(present, singular, third-person) · whacking(participle, present) · whacked(participle, past) · whacked(past)
Source: Wiktionary