whack

Etymology

It is probably imitative of the sound of a blow,^{[2][3][4][5][6]} and may be an alteration of thwack;^{[7][8][9][10][11]} Dictionary.com calls it originally a Scots dialect form of thwack.^[12] Partridge takes both as intensive variants of dialectal thack, from Old English þaccian (“to pat”),^[13][14] itself apparently echoic, with the same ending as clack, crack and smack.^[13] The verb and the noun are both first recorded in Scots, in the poet Allan Ramsay;^[7][15][8] Barnhart thinks the noun more likely comes from the verb.^[15]

Earliest recorded meaning

As a verb, used for "put" or "get" with the idea of a vigorous action: 1719, in Allan Ramsay's Third Answer to Hamilton.^[7][15] The sense "to beat or strike vigorously" follows in 1721, in the glossary to Ramsay's Poems,^[7] and the noun, a heavy resounding blow, in 1737, in his Collection of Scots Proverbs.^[7][15][2]

Semantic evolution

From the blow the noun came to mean a share or portion, first in Grose's slang dictionary (1785);^[7][2][16] Etymonline suggests a blow that divides, or the rap of the auctioneer's hammer, and the verb whack (up), to share out, followed in 1819.^[2][7] The phrase out of whack, out of order, is recorded from 1885 and may come from the sense "share, just portion".^[2][7] To have a whack at, to make an attempt, is found by 1820 according to Etymonline, with take by 1845,^[2] while the OED's first American example is from 1891.^[7] Whacked for "exhausted" is recorded by 1919,^[2] and in criminal slang, especially of the Mafia, whack has meant "to murder" since 1973.^[7][11] The British top or full whack, the highest price or rate, is from 1976.^[7][11] Wright's dialect dictionary records the word across Scotland, Ireland, England and Australia, also spelled wack.^[17]

Timeline

• 1719 – verb, to put or bring with force.^[7][15]
• 1721 – verb, to beat or strike vigorously.^[7]
• 1737 – noun, a heavy resounding blow.^[7][15]
• 1785 – a share or portion.^[7][2]
• 1819 – verb, to share or divide.^[7]
• 1820 – have a whack at, to make an attempt, according to Etymonline.^[2]
• 1885 – out of whack, out of order.^[7][2]
• 1919 – whacked, exhausted.^[2]
• 1973 – US slang, to murder.^[7]
• 1976 – top whack, the highest price.^[7]

Meanings

Verb

1. To hit someone or something with a sharp, loud blow: He whacked the nail with the back of the axe.^[4][11][7]
2. (informal) To put something somewhere quickly or carelessly: whack the kettle on.^[11][7]
3. (US slang) To murder.^[11][7]
4. (British informal) To exhaust completely, usually in the passive.^[11][2]
5. (slang) To share or divide, often with up.^[7][16]

Noun

1. A sharp, loud blow, or the sound of one: She gave the rug a whack with a broom.^[4][11][7]
2. (informal) A share or portion: Each of them got a fair whack.^[4][11][7]
3. (informal) A try or attempt, as in have a whack at.^[11][7][4]
4. out of whack: out of order; not working properly.^[11][7]

Word family

• whacker
• wacky
• bushwhack
• whack up
• whack off

Related words

• thwack
• smack
• whang

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
4. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
6. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
12. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
13. ^ a b Partridge, Eric (1966), Origins: A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, 4th ed., London: Routledge & Kegan Paul
14. ^ Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement
15. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
16. ^ a b Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
17. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)