mack n.2
1. (US Und.) a pimp.
| [ | ![[UK]](/static/img/flags/uk.png "United Kingdom") | Pink ’Un and Pelican 256: Sixty-five dollars rolled into the basket, principally contributed by those females who had been accustomed to support the maquereau during his life]. |
![[US]](/static/img/flags/us.png "United States") | Criminal Sl. | |
| My Life in Prison 77: I ain’t never been a mack. | |
| Day Book (Chicago) 22 July 2/1: A crowd of tenderloin ‘macks’ followed the morals squad and menaced the members. | |
| in Erotic Muse (1992) 145: Bring on your rubber-tired hearses, / Fill ’em up plumb full of maques [sic]. | |
| Wise-crack Dict. 11/1: Mac – Man who lives off the earnings of a woman. | |
| [ | | You Can’t Win (2000) 116: The safety box is also used [...] by race-horse men, gamblers, and the moneyed macquereau]. |
| Stealing Through Life 69: No one but a cheap gambler of a ‘mack’ does that. | |
| (ref. to 1898) Amer. Madam (1981) 265: The macks would follow a mark and try and pull him back to a window for a looksee or feelee. | |
| Und. and Prison Sl. 52: mac, mack, mackerel, n. A pimp. | |
| Really the Blues 23: That fee went to the pimps, or macs, who kept wandering around downstairs. | |
| et al. DAUL 132/1: Mac 1. A pimp. 2. A loafer supported by a working girl. [Note: This word is often prefixed to any fictitious name, to convey meanings of both 1. and 2., as: MacGimp, MacGluke, Mac-Kife, MacKoozey, etc.]. | |
| USA Confidential 163: Truck-drivers who transport them, deliver them to madames or macks along the route, in return for fun on the cuff and ten bucks. | |
| Cross of Lassitude 276: ‘Mac?’ Miss Walton does not know this word comes from macquereau. | |
| Delinquency, Crime, and Social Process 817: Nearly all young Negro players aspire to reach the position of a ‘big mack’. | |
| Gentleman of Leisure 37: I got pride in the profession from my dad. He pimped a little and was always around the life. He said, ‘Be the best and don’t settle for less. Be a sweet mack. Be a successful man.’. | |
| Street Players 112: I ain’t heard her doing nothing about the macks behind the whores. | |
| ‘Public Enemy’ in Flyboy in the Buttermilk (1992) 128: Remember The Mack? Where the pimp figures it cool to make crazy dollar off his skeezes. | |
| ‘Cusswords’ 🎵 I’m a Oaktown mack, bitch, I ain’t playin. | |
| Lowspeak 96: Maq – abbreviation of the French maquereau = mackerel. a pimp or low-life character. | |
| Street Talk 2 96: Maq [...] Mec. | |
| Blood Posse 203: Nigger, I ain’t no pimp. Know a Mack when you see one, sucker. | |
| ‘Int’l Player’s Anthem’ 🎵 I’m a million dollar mack that need a billion dollar bitch. |
2. (US black, also the mack, mack talk) seductive, persuasive talk, spec. the ‘chat-up’ line used by a pimp to recruit a new woman.
| ‘Wise Egg’ in et al. Life (1976) 114: Why, I had roped bulls on the Wyoming track / And taught Honky-Tonk Bud the mack. | |
| ‘Master of the Long-Shoe Game’ in et al. Life (1976) 155: When you tell me about the mack, / You’ve got to run it down fact by fact. | |
| Black Players 35: The initial line a pimp uses in recruiting a girl is often referred to as Mack or Mack talk, for example, ‘He sure can mack ’em down in five minutes.’. | |
| Runnin’ Down Some Lines 137: The mack: seductive conversation that blends together coercion, flattery, put-down, confrontation and manipulation in a steady stream of sweet talk marked by quick shifts in mood and tone. | |
| Chili 51: I macked. Yeahhh, I macked. But it was an honest mack. | |
| Portable Promised Land (ms.) 157: We Words (My Favorite Things) [...] The mix. The mack. The shit. The whips. |
3. (US black) a clever, influential person, a smooth operator.
| Get Your Ass in the Water (1974) 133: Some of our boys was drifters and some of our boys was macks. | |
| Cross of Lassitude 276: I want a man to be a mac. | |
| ‘Grand Larceny’ 🎵 Got a rap like a mac, and a game’s the same. | |
| Hip-Hop Connection Dec. 10: If you ain’t got Delphonics in your collection you ain’t no mack. | |
| City of Nightmares pt 2 iv: Talk a lot of rap like you’re really some of that, / up in the clubs like your name is Big Mack. |
4. (orig. US teen) a person who deceives or tries to charm a member of the opposite sex with seductive words; a successful seducer.
 | Online Sl. Dict. 🌐 mack n 1. one who is good with the opposite sex, usually a male. (‘Jeff is such a mack. He gets all the girls.’). | |
| Teen Lingo: The Source for Youth Ministry 🌐 the mack n. Someone who ‘macks’ [...] ‘Check out Jesse over there with them chassies . . . he thinks he’s the mack!’. | |
| Londonstani (2007) 54: I’m da mack already, innit. |
In derivatives
the world of smooth-talking, successful people.
| Everybody Smokes in Hell 6: Being in Alf’s proximity made Buddy feel he was moving smooth and steady along the road to Mack-dom. |
In compounds
see separate entry.
(US black) a pimp; thus hard-mack, a pimp who rules through threatened or actual violence; sweet mack, a gentle pimp who prefers to use charm.
| ‘Mexicana Rose’ in et al. Life (1976) 39: I thought you were a mackman, a master at the Game. | |
| Delinquency, Crime, and Social Process 817: A mackman may have a few ‘bitches’ on the streets turning tricks. | |
| Animal Factory 3: Me, I’m a mack man an’ a player. I know how to make a bitch bring me monee ... | |
| Runnin’ Down Some Lines 245: mack man Equivalent to pimp. |
In phrases
(US black/campus) to make a pass at someone.
| Teen Lingo: The Source for Youth Ministry 🌐 getting the mack on [...] ‘Check out Billy with them chassies ... he’s getting the mack on!’ . | |
| Corruption Officer [ebk] cap. 11: I had already caught the eye of a few honeys that worked there and I had started to spit game to them [...] getting my motha fuck’n mac on and shit. |
(US black/campus) to flirt, to pick up a woman.
| Sl. U. 12 7: I am going [...] to try to make mac with Lisa. She is really cute. |
(US black) to act in a smooth, sophisticated manner, reminiscent of the idealized pimp.
| ‘Nuthin But a G Thang’ 🎵 And I’m a continue to put the rap down, put the mack down. | |
| ? (Pronounced Que) [ebook] Damn, love, I was just about to put my mack down. |
a pimp who treats his women well.
| ‘The Game’ in King Black Short Story Anthol. (1972) 301: Both describes Sweet Mac to a tee. | |
| Black Players 35: A pimp who uses a great deal of charm and little violence or fear is called a sweet Mack or sugar pimp. One who uses brutality and threats is a gorilla pimp or hard Mack. | |
| Lex. Black Eng. 87: The pimp who does not exhibit the Iceberg Slim-type dominance [...] can either be a sweet Mack or a sugar pimp. | |
| Hard Candy (1990) 115: A sweet mac — he never made his girls turn hard tricks. |