whacker colloq.
(ˈhwækə(r))
[f. whack v. + -er1.]
1. a. A heavy blow. dial.
| 1823 E. Moor Suffolk Words 477 Whacker, a blow, a thump. |
b. A driver of animals, a drover. U.S.
| 1880 Harper's Mag. LX. 679 The whacker's long whip cracking..as he lashes his unwieldy beasts [sc. oxen] into position. 1889 H. O'Reilly Fifty Yrs. on Trail xvi. 172 To search round for bull-whackers to drive them over. |
2. Anything abnormally large of its kind; esp. a ‘thumping’ lie; a ‘whopper’.
| 1825 Brockett N.C. Gloss., Whacker, a lie. 1828 Sporting Mag. (N.S.) XXII. 416 Though the fences are whackers, the brooks they are small. 1857 Hughes Tom Brown ii. iv, Oh, there's a whacker!..we haven't been within a hundred yards of his barn. 1872 J. R. Green Let. to E. A. Freeman 18 Sept., The Dome which ought to be a whacker is a poor wee thing. |