▪ I. whacking, vbl. n. colloq.
(ˈhwækɪŋ)
[f. whack v. + -ing1.]
The action of the verb whack.
1. a. Beating.
| 1862 Mrs. H. Wood Channings i, Then take your whacking! 1887 Pall Mall Gaz. 14 Nov. 2/2 There is a sound of the whacking of staves and sticks. |
| attrib. 1886 Pall Mall Gaz. 19 June 5/1 We turned away followed by the beaters, one of whom tucked his long whacking-stick under his chin. |
b. transf. A beating or defeat in a contest; a ‘thrashing’.
| 1951 Sport 27 Apr.–3 May 3/2 If Wednesday gets a whacking from Spurs this time..they can hardly grumble. |
2. Dividing up or sharing.
| 1851 Mayhew Lond. Labour II. 154 At last Long J― and I got to quarrel about the ‘whacking’; there was cheatin' a-goin' on. |
▪ II. whacking, ppl. a. colloq.
(ˈhwækɪŋ)
[f. whacker + -ing2.]
That is a ‘whacker’; abnormally large; ‘thumping’, ‘whopping’.
Often quasi-advb. in whacking big, whacking great.
| 1806 J. Davis Post Captain iv. 19 She looks..like a whacking frigate. 1819 J. Thomson Poems (ed. 2) 201 A whakin' fee gets tauld them down for sorry haet, I trow. 1823 Scott Quentin D. Introd. ¶7 A certain whacking priest in our neighbourhood. 1829 ― Jrnl. 16 Apr. (1890) II. 268 This whacking reason. 1853 G. J. Cayley Las Alforjas II. 193 We saw a whacking great building. 1873 C. M. Davies Unorth. Lond., Walworth Jumpers 91 A good whacking kiss that echoed all over the archway. |