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able whackets. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
able whackets, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
able whackets in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
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English
Alternative forms
Etymology
Possibly from able, as in able seaman, and whack.
Pronunciation
Noun
able whackets pl (plural only)
- (nautical slang, now historical) Blows on the hand from a knotted or twisted handkerchief, especially given as a punishment to the loser of certain card games.
1905, John Masefield, Sea Life in Nelson's Time, section IV:The chief amusement or game in use in the midshipmen's berth, was ‘able whackets’, a pastime in which cards, blasphemy, and hard knocks were agreeably mingled.
2008, Amitav Ghosh, Sea of Poppies, Penguin, published 2015, page 15:Instead of the usual sailors' games of cards and ablewhackets, there was the clicking of dice, with games of parcheesi unfolding on chequerboards of rope […].
References
- Grose, Francis (1788) A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, 2nd edition, page 1
- John S[tephen] Farmer, compiler (1890) “able whackets”, in Slang and Its Analogues Past and Present. , volume I, Thomas Poulter and Sons] , →OCLC, page 6.
Anagrams