# whack

Pronunciation: say "WAK" /wæk/

## Verb

1. To hit, slap, or strike someone or something, typically with a sharp blow.
   - Simple: To hit someone or something hard, often making a loud noise.
   - _Carpenters whack the stubborn boards into place with a rubber mallet._
   - _A low branch whacked her in the face on the trail._
5. To kill or assassinate someone, typically on the orders of organized crime; to bump off. *(slang)*
   - Simple: To kill someone, often because a criminal gang ordered it.
   - _Witnesses believed the mob whacked him for skimming from the casino take._
   - _Nobody crosses the family and lives; they whack traitors without a second thought._
6. To defeat an opponent convincingly or by a wide margin; to thrash.
   - Simple: To beat another team or player by a lot.
   - _The Yankees whacked the visitors twelve to two in the series opener._
   - _Analysts expect the champions to whack every challenger this season._
10. To divide something into shares and distribute them, often used with 'up'. *(slang)*
   - Simple: To split money or things so each person gets a part.
   - _The crew whacked up the reward as soon as the job was done._
   - _We agreed to whack the proceeds evenly among everyone who helped._
12. To surpass or outdo something; to prove better than a rival or alternative. *(UK)*
   - Simple: To be better than someone or something else, to beat.
   - _For a quiet evening, you can't whack a good village pub._
   - _Her marathon time whacks the county record by nearly a minute._
15. To eat something hurriedly, with little time spent on it. *(Singapore, Singlish)*
   - Simple: To eat something very fast, often because you are in a hurry.
   - _She whacked a granola bar between meetings and kept moving._
   - _We barely had time to whack a slice of pizza before the curtain rose._
16. To attempt something without knowing how to do it, taking on the task spontaneously and without planning. *(Singapore, Singlish)*
   - Simple: To try to do something you do not know how to do, without a plan.
   - _Nobody on the team had built a website before, so we whacked it over a weekend._
   - _Rather than study the instructions, he chose to whack the whole installation and hope for the best._

## Noun

2. A sharp blow or strike, especially one delivered with force.
   - Simple: A hard hit, like a slap or a knock.
   - _The piñata finally burst after a solid whack from the youngest cousin._
   - _He quieted the rattling pipe with a quick whack of his wrench._
3. The loud, sharp sound produced by a heavy blow or impact.
   - Simple: The loud sound something makes when it is hit hard.
   - _The whack of axes echoed through the forest all morning._
   - _Each serve landed with a satisfying whack on the clay court._
4. A try at doing something, or one's turn or chance to try, first used of an attempt to beat someone or something. *(slang, US)*
   - Simple: A try, a turn, or a chance to do something.
   - _The intern asked for a whack at writing the press release._
   - _After three whacks at the crossword, he finally gave up._
7. Alternative spelling of wack. *(slang)* — Alternative spelling of wack (“annoyingly or disappointingly bad”)
   - Simple: Alternative spelling of wack. It means something is bad or disappointing.
   - _Fans called the remix complete whack compared to the original track._
   - _The bootleg sneakers turned out to be total whack._
9. A stroke or swing aimed at something, counted whether or not it connects.
   - Simple: A swing or hit you take at something, even if you miss.
   - _His desperate whack at the mosquito sent the lamp crashing to the floor._
   - _Three of his whacks missed the nail entirely and dented the wood._
13. The backslash, the character ⟨ \ ⟩ that slants downward from left to right. *(slang)*
   - Simple: The slanted line ⟨ \ ⟩ on a computer keyboard, the one that leans backward.
   - _Read the path aloud as 'C, colon, whack, users, whack, Sam.'_
   - _Put a whack before the quotation mark so the script doesn't break._

## Adjective

8. Alternative spelling of wack. *(slang)* — Alternative spelling of wack (“annoyingly or disappointingly bad”).
   - Simple: Alternative spelling of wack. Use it to say something is bad or not cool.
   - _The new update made the app slower, which is totally whack._
   - _Critics found the plot twist whack and the dialogue even worse._

## Noun

11. A share or portion, especially a full or generous one. *(dated)*
   - Simple: A person's part or share of something, often a big one.
   - _Every investor expected a fair whack of the year's profits._
   - _He had already spent his whack of the inheritance by spring._
14. Phencyclidine, the street drug better known as PCP or angel dust. *(dated)*
   - Simple: An illegal drug also called PCP or angel dust.
   - _By the end of the decade, dealers were cutting the whack with cheaper powders._
   - _She left the club scene after losing two friends to whack._
17. A deal or agreement, especially one settled informally between two parties. *(obsolete, US)*
   - Simple: A deal or agreement that people make together.
   - _The traders shook hands on the whack and loaded their wagons._
   - _'Throw in the saddle and it's a whack,' the drover said._
18. A dividing up of money or goods into separate shares; a divvying up. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: The act of splitting money or goods into shares for each person.
   - _The crew put off the whack until the captain returned from shore._
   - _At the whack, every man received his portion of the season's earnings._

## Origin

The origin is uncertain. It was originally Scottish and is probably imitative of the sound of a blow, though it may be compared with Middle English thakken, from Old English þaccian. One later verb sense is likely a semantic loan from the Malay word hentam, meaning to strike or to do something carelessly.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/whack (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).