flak
English
Alternative forms
- flack (adverse criticism and spokesperson senses)
Etymology
Borrowed from German FlaK, short for Fliegerabwehrkanone (“anti aeroplane cannon”).
Pronunciation
Noun
flak (countable and uncountable, plural flaks)
- Ground-based anti-aircraft guns firing explosive shells. [from 1938]
- 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.
- 1964, David John Cawdell Irving, The Destruction of Dresden, page 74,
- Anti-aircraft shell fire. [from 1940]
- Synonym: ack-ack
- 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.
- 1984, Steve Harris, "Aces High", Iron Maiden, Powerslave.
- There goes the siren that warns of the air raid / Then comes the sound of the guns sending flak / Out for the scramble we've got to get airborne / Got to get up for the coming attack.
- 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.
- (figuratively, informal) Adverse criticism. [from 1963]
- 2011 December 10, Marc Higginson, “Bolton 1 - 2 Aston Villa”, in BBC Sport[1]:
- 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.
- (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, are given Op-ed column space, sympathetic reviews, and a regular place on talk shows as experts.
- 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,
Translations
ground-based anti-aircraft guns firing explosive shells
|
anti-aircraft shell fire
|
adverse criticism
|
a public-relations spokesperson
|
See also
Anagrams
Albanian
Etymology
From Proto-Albanian *awa-laka, from Proto-Indo-European *lek- (“to jump, scuttle”) (compare Norwegian lakka (“to hop, patter about”), Latvian lèkt (“to spring, jump”), Ancient Greek ληκάω (lēkáō, “to dance to music”).[1]
Verb
flak (aorist flaka, participle flakur)
- to throw, hurl, toss, fling off
- to smack
- (figurative) to cast off, eject
- (figurative) to renounce, reject
Related terms
References
- ^ Orel, Vladimir E. (1998) “flak”, in Albanian Etymological Dictionary, Leiden, Boston, Köln: Brill, →ISBN, page 2
Icelandic
Pronunciation
Noun
flak n (genitive singular flaks, nominative plural flök)
Declension
declension of flak
Synonyms
- (wreck): rekald n
- (a fish fillet): flak af fiski n
Derived terms
See also
- lundir (of beef etc.)
Norwegian Bokmål
Etymology
Noun
flak n (definite singular flaket, indefinite plural flak, definite plural flaka or flakene)
Derived terms
References
- “flak” in The Bokmål Dictionary.
- “flak_3” in Det Norske Akademis ordbok (NAOB).
- “flak_2” in Det Norske Akademis ordbok (NAOB).
Norwegian Nynorsk
Etymology
From Old Norse flaga, flak. Akin to English flake.
Pronunciation
Noun
flak n (definite singular flaket, indefinite plural flak, definite plural flaka)
Derived terms
References
- “flak” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.
Polish
Etymology
Pronunciation
Noun
flak m inan
Declension
Declension of flak
Related terms
Further reading
Swedish
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/8b/TroopCarrierHertz.jpg/220px-TroopCarrierHertz.jpg)
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4f/1997_Ford_F-150_XLT.jpg/220px-1997_Ford_F-150_XLT.jpg)
Noun
flak n
- a flat object, a floe, a flatbed
- 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 | |||
Indefinite | Definite | Indefinite | Definite | |
Nominative | flak | flaket | flak | flaken |
Genitive | flaks | flakets | flaks | flakens |
Related terms
Anagrams
Categories:
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- en:Artillery
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- Albanian lemmas
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- Rhymes:Icelandic/aːk
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