Meanings
plural Pac-Men · alternative Pac Man
- figurativelyslangAnything that consumes indiscriminately.
"Medicaid is becoming the Pac-Man of state government, eating up every dollar," remarked one official.
1992, Kenneth Janda, Jeffrey M Berry, Jerry Goldman, The challenge of democracy: government in America3 more examples
Chlorine acts like a Pac-Man of the high atmosphere, gobbling one ozone molecule after another and then being regenerated to gobble again.
1995, Bruce Piasecki, Corporate environmental strategy: the avalanche of change since BhopalThe ironic deconstruction of all meaningful discourse, including normative discourse, says Gergen, "is like a Pac-Man of social pattern, gobbling all that stands in its path."
1995, J Richard Middleton, Brian J Walsh, Truth is stranger than it used to be: biblical faith in a postmodern ageLike the Pac-Man of garbage, Browning-Ferris Industries (BFI) is gobbling up smaller waste disposal firms — 113 in 1994 alone — as that industry becomes increasingly consolidated.
1995, Patrick J Spain, James R Talbot, Hoover's Handbook of American Companies 1996
Origin
From the popular arcade game Pac-Man (1980) and its player character, a circle with a snapping mouth gobbling dots in a maze. The original Japanese title of Puck Man (パックマン) was derived from パクパク (pakupaku, “gobble gobble”) (onomatopoeic) and マン (man), from English man; the title was changed for the North American release to mitigate vandalism (Puck → fuck).
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
Pac-Man. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Pac-Man
“Pac-Man.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Pac-Man. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Pac-Man,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Pac-Man.
Source: Pac-Man on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.