whack

[hwak, wak] /ʰwæk, wæk/
verb (used with object)
1.
to strike with a smart, resounding blow or blows.
2.
Slang. to divide into or take in shares (often followed by up):
Whack the loot between us two.
verb (used without object)
3.
to strike a smart, resounding blow or blows.
noun
4.
a smart, resounding blow:
a whack with his hand.
5.
Informal. a trial or attempt:
to take a whack at a job.
6.
Slang. a portion or share.
Verb phrases
7.
whack off,
  1. to cut off or separate with a blow:
    The cook whacked off the fish's head.
  2. Slang: Vulgar. to masturbate.
8.
whack out, Slang. to produce quickly or, sometimes, carelessly:
She whacks out a short story every week or so.
Idioms
9.
out of whack, Informal. out of order or alignment; not in proper condition.
Origin
1710-20; orig. dial., Scots form of thwack; cf. whang2, whittle
Related forms
whacker, noun
Synonyms
5. try, go, turn.
Examples from the web for whack
  • And one sip of it revealed that it was out of whack again and too acidic.
  • In other words, their optimal circadian sleep periods are out of whack with their actual sleep schedules.
  • In the past decade or so, the travel equation's been out of whack.
  • Every few yards he rose high in the water to whack a limb out of our path, then sank away beneath a boil of bubbles.
  • In the first round it purchased securities to help stabilize the financial system after the crisis threw it out of whack.
  • If you try to concentrate the pain on the wealthy or corporations, it's an even bigger whack.
  • No mistaking the message: the world is out of whack, the car is off the road, here comes the zombie.
  • Unfortunately, the old standard is slightly out of whack with what is needed to park cars efficiently.
  • His bowels were so out of whack that he had to have an enema every third day.
  • They have no representation, they are at the whim of this whack-job communist government.
British Dictionary definitions for whack

whack

/wæk/
verb (transitive)
1.
to strike with a sharp resounding blow
2.
(usually passive) (Brit, informal) to exhaust completely
3.
(transitive; usu foll by in or on) (informal) to put something on to or into something else with force or abandon: whack on some sunscreen
noun
4.
(transitive) (US, slang) to murder: if you were out of line you got whacked
5.
a sharp resounding blow or the noise made by such a blow
6.
(informal) a share or portion
7.
(informal) a try or attempt (esp in the phrase have a whack at)
8.
(informal) out of whack, out of order; unbalanced: the whole system is out of whack
interjection
9.
an exclamation imitating the noise of a sharp resounding blow
Derived Forms
whacker, noun
Word Origin
C18: perhaps a variant of thwack, ultimately of imitative origin
Word Origin and History for whack
v.

"to strike sharply," 1719, probably of imitative origin. The noun is from 1737. The word in out of whack (1885) is perhaps the slang meaning "share, just portion" (1785), which may be from the notion of the blow that divides, or the rap of the auctioneer's hammer.

Slang definitions & phrases for whack

wack

adjective

Worthless; stupid; ''wimpish'': You'll have to deal with some really wack people

noun
  1. A crazy or eccentric person; nut, screwball, weirdo: Two wacks if I ever saw one/ a father who was so abrasive and married now to such a wack (1938+)
  2. A drink of liquor
  3. A blow or hit made at someone or something
Related Terms

wacky


whack

noun
  1. A hit; blow: to explore their manhood and give and take a few whacks (1737+)
  2. A try; bash, crack, shot: He was given a whack at drama reviewing (1891+)
  3. wack
verb
  1. To strike; hit (1721+)
  2. (also whack out) To kill; execute, gangland style: the lieutenant took it personal when they whacked the witness (1980s+ Mobsters)
  3. (also wack) To dilute a narcotic; cut a narcotic (1960s+ Narcotics)
Related Terms

have a crack at something, out of whack, wack

[probably echoic; in second verb sense, the use of whacks, ''any form of force,'' is attested among Chicago gunmen in 1932]


whack in Technology


According to arch-hacker James Gosling, to "...modify a program with no idea whatsoever how it works." (See whacker.) It is actually possible to do this in nontrivial circumstances if the change is small and well-defined and you are very good at glarking things from context. As a trivial example, it is relatively easy to change all "stderr" writes to "stdout" writes in a piece of C filter code which remains otherwise mysterious.
[Jargon File]

Idioms and Phrases with whack

whack

In addition to the idioms beginning with whack
whack off
also see: