broderick

English

Etymology

After Johnny Broderick, a New York City policeman well-known for his powerful punch.

Noun

broderick (plural brodericks)

1. (slang, early 20th century) A thorough beating
   • 2012, Balogun, The Scythe – A Two-Fisted Dieselfunk Tale!:

     Ernest Woodruff pounded his fist onto his redwood desk. “Find him; give him the Broderick and then bring his battered body to me so I can lay eyes on that hatchet man’s mug before I bash it in!”

   • 2016, Paul Fauteux, Hard-boiled detective sketch, in response to a Winter Break writing prompt:

     Turned out some judge took a throwback after some bruno gave him the broderick.

   • 2017, Alan G. Wasenius, Maxie Thermopolis or Don’T Drink the Giggle Water:

     “I think I should tell you that Maxie here is a regular Bruno and a great pugilist,” he commented, “with all of the punches he knows he could give you a Broderick by thumping you to the canvas."

Verb

broderick (third-person singular simple present brodericks, present participle brodericking, simple past and past participle brodericked)

1. (transitive) To administer a beating to
   • 1980, William Heffernan, Broderick‎, page 298:

     "I brodericked him when he was alive," Johnny would say, "but it is against my religion to do anything like that to the dead. [spit in corpse's eye]"

   • 1971, Gerald Astor, The New York cops: an informal history‎, page 150:

     Any racketeer or Mafia chief who chose to behave quietly in public did not have to fear Broderick, although the hired hands who performed the necessary acts of violence did run the risk of being "Brodericked."