Flack

//flæk// name, noun, verb

Definitions

Proper Noun
  1. 1
    A surname.
Noun
  1. 1
    A publicist, a publicity agent. Canada, US

    "Edward Bernay, who was a consultant to the US Delegation to the Versailles Peace Conference which terminated the first World War (and who finally wound up as a flack for the United Fruit Company in Latin America), believed that propaganda and its covert marketing could effectively alter the will of the American public."

  2. 2
    Alternative spelling of flak. alt-of, alternative, countable, uncountable
  3. 3
    artillery designed to shoot upward at airplanes wordnet
  4. 4
    intense adverse criticism wordnet
  5. 5
    a slick spokesperson who can turn any criticism to the advantage of their employer wordnet
Verb
  1. 1
    To flutter; palpitate. intransitive, obsolete
  2. 2
    To publicise, to promote. Canada, US

    "[..] he told funny stories about his early days in the theater district, flacking shows up and down the street, but Klara wasn’t listening."

  3. 3
    To hang loosely; flag. UK, dialectal, intransitive
  4. 4
    To beat by flapping. UK, dialectal, transitive

Etymology

Etymology 1

From Middle English flacken (“to palpitate, flutter”), from Old English *flaccian, from Proto-West Germanic *flakkōn, from Proto-Germanic *flakkōną (“to beat”), from Proto-Indo-European *pleḱ-, which could be related to Ancient Greek πλάζω (plázō, “to turn away from”). Akin to Middle Dutch vlacken (“to flicker, flash, sparkle”), Danish flakke (“to wander”), Swedish flacka (“to rove, rove about, ramble”), Icelandic flakka (“to move”). Compare also Icelandic flaka (“to flap, hang loose”), Swedish flaxa (“to flap, flutter”).

Etymology 2

Most likely flak.

Etymology 3

Most likely flak.

Etymology 4

Variant of flak.

Etymology 5

From Middle English flack (“sod, turf”); see flag (sense 4).

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