Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. a blow, usu. with some form of stick; thus constr. with the, physical violence see cite 1914).

1793		J. O’Keeffe Sprigs of Laurel 14: He gave her a smack. / He gave me a whack.
1811		J. Poole Hamlet Travestie II iii: He’ll soon be here: — then let him have his whack: Tell him he’ll bring a house upon his back.
1824		Pierce Egan’s Life in London 19 Sept. 269/1: [W]hat a beautiful whack between the peepers he had given his friend Phelim O’Shaughnesy at a little bit of a blow up on the road.
1832		Egan Bk of Sports 263: [note] Now this brought on a general fight, Lord, what a gallows row — / With whacks and thumps throughout the night.
1842		Whip & Satirist of NY & Brooklyn (NY) 2 July n.p.: [F]eel the whacks of our editorial cudgel .
1845		J. Lindridge Sixteen-String Jack 139: I pardons the whack on account of the wisdom that moved the whacker.
1859		Hotten Dict. of Modern Sl. etc. 115: Whack, or whacking a blow, or a thrashing.
1867		‘Artemus Ward’ Artemus Ward in London in Complete Works (1922) 439: ‘I’ll fondle him with a club,’ I anserd, hitting him another whack.
1873		W.H. Thomes Bushrangers 401: I’d give yer a whack in the face if yer offered to take any advantage of me out here.
1887		G. Devol Forty Years a Gambler 147: Every whack brought blood and a heavy fall.
1891		G.R. Sims ‘Pickpocket Poems’, Dagonet Ditties 93: Whack came a couple of stingers — / Two beauties — and right on my lug.
1895		Crowe Aus. Sl. Dict. 94: Whack, [...] a blow, to beat.
1900		Punch 28 Feb. 157/3: To deal another whack on the head to a floundering Opposition.
1910		F.P. Dunne Mr Dooley Says 176: WE give him th’ same threaty rights he’d give us, a dhrink an’ a whack on th’ head.
1914		Sport (Adelaide) 18 Sept. 5/4: There was a young man named Jack [i.e. Johnson] / Who was said to deal out the whack.
1916		N. Douglas London Street Games 42: Each one has to have a wack with the tolly wack (a handkerchief with a knot in it).
1922		‘Sapper’ Black Gang 359: I got a whack on the back of the head from something.
1934		H. Miller Tropic of Cancer (1963) 156: She gives him a resounding slap in the face, such a whack as would knock a proofreader spinning.
1938		W. Winchell ‘On Broadway’ 12 Mar. [synd. col.] A. Woollcott spent lots of time getting under the skin of actors, but once in a while he took a whack at himself.
1949		P. Pringle Boy’s Book of Cricket 67: ‘It was a lovely whack,’ he declared.
1953		J. Thompson Alcoholics (1993) 76: Doc’s hand came down on his back with a resounding whack.
1962		R. Cook Crust on its Uppers 58: She’d get bird in [...] to take the whacks for a tenner.
1970		E. Tidyman Shaft 72: He considered giving the door a solid whack.
1982		Beano 3 Apr. 20: Give him a hard whack with my feather duster.
1990		R.G. Barratt ‘Who’s Jack of Robbo?’ in What Do You Reckon (1997) [ebook] He’s never been drunk, never copped a whack on the chin, never had his dabs taken.
1996		J. Cameron It Was An Accident 73: There was a whack like terrible down the bottom of my back from behind.
2003		N. Griffiths Stump 96: Someone’s gunner pay [...] Some fucker’s gorrer take the whack.
2004		R.G. Barrett Rosa Marie’s Baby (2013) [ebook] Half full of bourbon and livened up from the whack on the jaw.
2010		K. Richards Life 62: He did something and I just gave him a whack.
2014		M. McBride Swollen Red Sun 84: That was a hell of a lot to remember. Especially considering the whack he took.
2022		J. Hannaham Didn’t Nobody Give a Shit 94: Which gang of convicts or COs would take the next whack? Would these particular scumbuckets finish her off?

2. a second-rate or inexperienced coachman [his reliance on the whip].

1894

Morn. Call (S.F.) 23 May 11/1: Slang rom London Streets [...] An inexperienced Jehu may be either a ‘gardener’ or a ‘whack’.

3. (US Und.) a prison sentence.

1940		W.R. Burnett High Sierra in Four Novels (1984) 297: You could get used to anything, even being without women and doing a long whack in solitary.
1971		J. McNeill Chocolate Frog (1973) 23: Shirker: Yer got yer mate two years for his whack...’n six months for yerself!
2006		B. Matthews Intractable [ebook] They were going to take him back to Victoria when he finished his whack up here.

4. (Scot./Aus.) a punishment, one’s deserts.

1993		Smith & Noble Neddy (1998) 117: My half-brother Edwin, who had pleaded guilty to heroin charges, was sentenced to 10 years for his trouble. Right whack for him.
1993		M.B. ‘Chopper’ Read How to Shoot Friends 95: Just ask Kevin Taylor. Oh, I forgot, you can’t. He got his right whack in Pentridge.

5. (drugs) the act of diluting bulk drugs, e.g. heroin, for retail sale.

1989

Pileggi & Scorsese Goodfellas [film script] 105: I had to get to Robin’s house to give the package a whack with some quinine.

6. skill, ability.

2007

D.S. Mitchell Killer Tune (2008) 24: Now everyone wanted a slice of his lyrical whack.