flak

English

Wikipedia

Alternative forms

• flack (adverse criticism and spokesperson senses)

Etymology

German acronym of Fliegerabwehrkanone (“aeroplane defence cannon”). First attested 1938 as “antiaircraft gun”, 1940 as “antiaircraft fire”. Sense of “adverse criticism” attested since 1963 in American English.

Pronunciation

• IPA: /flæk/, X-SAMPA: /fl{k/
• Rhymes: -æk

Noun

flak (countable and uncountable; plural flaks)

1. Ground-based anti-aircraft guns firing explosive shells.
   • 1964, David John Cawdell Irving, The Destruction of Dresden, page 74,

     […] to consider whether the city was in February 1945 an undefended city within the meaning of the 1907 Hague Convention, it will be necessary to examine the establishment and subsequent total dispersal of the city's flak batteries, before the date of the triple blow.

   • 2007, Samuel W. Mitcham, Jr., Retreat to the Reich: The German Defeat in France, 1944, footnote, page 30,

     He was promoted to general of flak artillery on March 1, 1945, and ended the war as the general of the flak arm at OKL, the High Command of the Luftwaffe.

2. Anti-aircraft shell fire.
   • 1943 November 29, Target: Germany, in Life, page 80,

     At 1057 we were just over the islands and at 1100 the tail gunner reported flak at six o'clock, below.

   • 1999, Brian O'Neill, Half a Wing, Three Engines and a Prayer, page 118,

     I could hear the fragments from the flak shells hitting the plane like someone throwing rocks at it.

3. (figuratively, informal) Adverse criticism.
   • 2011 December 10, Marc Higginson, “Bolton 1 - 2 Aston Villa”, BBC Sport:

     Alex McLeish, perhaps mindful of the flak he has been taking from sections of the Villa support for a perceived negative style of play, handed starts to wingers Charles N'Zogbia and Albrighton.

   • 1990, Joel H. Spring, The American School, 1642-1990, page 380,

     This filter Herman and Chomsky call “flak,” which refers to letters, speeches, phone calls, and other forms of group and individual complaints. Advertisers and broadcasters avoid programming content that might cause large volumes of flak.

4. (informal) A public-relations spokesperson.
   • 2006, Edward Herman, Noam Chomsky, A Propaganda Model, in 2006 [2001], Meenakshi Gigi Durham, Douglas Kellner (editors), Media and Cultural Studies: Keyworks, revised edition, page 277,

     AIM head, Reed Irvine's diatribes are frequently published, and right-wing network flaks who regularly assail the “liberal media,” such as Michael Ledeen,¹⁰⁸ are given Op-ed column space, sympathetic reviews, and a regular place on talk shows as experts.

Translations

Ground-based anti-aircraft guns firing explosive shells.

• Dutch: luchtafweergeschut (nl)

• German: Flugzeugabwehrkanone (de)
• Russian: зенитное орудие (ru) (zenitnoye orudiye) n, зенитка (ru) (zenitka) f

Anti-aircraft shell fire.

• Dutch: luchtafweergranaten (nl)

• German: Flugzeugabwehrkanone (de)

Adverse criticism.

• Dutch: afbrekende kritiek (nl)

A public-relations spokesperson.

• Dutch: woordvoerder (nl)

Synonyms

• AAA, triple-A
• ack-ack

See also

• flak jacket

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Albanian

Etymology

From Proto-Albanian *awa-laka, from Proto-Indo-European *lek, *lək 'to bend, jump'. Compare Old High German lecken (“to throw back, to spring”), Lithuanian lekiù (“to fly”), Latvian lékt (“to spring, jump”).

Verb

flak (first-person singular past tense flaka, participle flakur)

1. to throw, toss, fling off

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Icelandic

Pronunciation

• IPA: /flaːk/

  Rhymes: -aːk

Noun

flak n (genitive singular flaks, plural flök)

1. wreck
2. filet, (UK) fillet (of fish)

Declension

declension of flak

n-s	singular		plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	flak	flakið	flök	flökin
accusative	flak	flakið	flök	flökin
dative	flaki	flakinu	flökum	flökunum
genitive	flaks	flaksins	flaka	flakanna

Synonyms

• (wreck): rekald n
• (a fish fillet): flak af fiski n

Derived terms

• flaka

See also

• lundir (of beef etc.)

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Polish

Pronunciation

• IPA: /flak/

• audio

  (file)

Noun

flak m

1. a flat tyre/tire

Declension

    declension of flak

	singular	plural
nominative	flak	flaki
genitive	flaka	flaków
dative	flakowi	flakom
accusative	flak	flaki
instrumental	flakiem	flakami
locative	flaku	flakach
vocative	flaku	flaki

See also

• flaki

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Swedish

De sitter på flaket

Bil med flak

Noun

flak n

1. a flat object, a floe, a flatbed
2. a bed, the (open) cargo area of a vehicle (e.g. truck, lorry, pickup truck, dump truck, tip truck)

Declension

Declension of flak

	singular		plural
Neuter	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	flak	flaket	flak	flaken
genitive	flaks	flakets	flaks	flakens

Related terms

• flakbil
• flakcykel
• flakmoped
• isflak
• lastbilsflak
• tippflak