whack up

present singular third person whacks up · participle present whacking up · participle past whacked up · past whacked up

1. idiomaticslangTo divide into shares; divvy.

   Whack up whatever we have in the larder, and eat that.

   1906, P. G. Wodehouse, Love Among the Chickens

   4 more examples

   We'll whack up fair with you, Hitchcock. In everything you'll get your quarter-share, neither more nor less; and you can take it or leave it.

   1901, Jack London, The God of his Fathers: Tales of the Klondyke

   American dealer breaks up, whacks up, packages, and sells kilo piecemeal for $35,000

   2010, Kenny Gallo, Matthew Randazzo V, Matthew Randazzo, Breakshot: A Life in the 21st Century American Mafia, page 19

   The very best of friends will gather to whack up the booty, and each man will sit at the table with his hand on his gun butt as the pie gets cut up. Very often a six-man gang can meet to whack up the proceeds and turn into a three or four-man gang in a few bloody moments of gunfire.

   2012, Mark Brandon Read, Chopper Unchopped

   Just as he was leaving the stable, however, to go home, one of the detectives came and wanted the baggage belonging to the three men who had been taken from the coach that day, saying that there was more than one hundred thousand in money in the outfit, besides considerable jewelry, and that he would "whack up” with the driver if he would get it.

   2018, D.J. Cook, Hands Up, page 177

2. idiomaticslangTo pay, especially reluctantly or with difficulty; to cough up; to shell out.

   I said in th' letter that'd I'd whack up half.

   1958, Over Here - Volume 4, page 45

   2 more examples

   A woman does not doubt her husband's work, of course, when manufactures, like home made candy, leaving hubby to pay for the raw materials; or else to take a lodger into the flat for which the same hubby whacks up $37.50 every month.

   1903, Craig McClure, “Unprevaricated Proverbs”, in Home Journal, volume 59, page 13

   He is approached by some person who tells him that he knows of a homestead that is open, but, of course, it will take a little to secure it: if the intending settler is ready to whack up $1 or $2 an acre, the place can be secured.

   1906, Canada. Parliament, Official Reports of the Debates of the House of Commons, page 4881

3. slangTo cut up or chop up.

   I have whacked up some wood, and I'm sure of this fact, that it pays to be good.

   1911, Walt Mason, “The Commercial Basis”, in Farm Journal, volumes 35-36, page 93

   2 more examples

   Let's ply the saw and speed her, and whack up elm and cedar, and thus, O gentle reader, our well-known bulwarks guard.

   1920, Hearst's International - Volume 38, page 48

   "He looks pretty bad," Stan said. "He was cut up by the rotors of an outboard motor and is whacked up all over."

   2009, Cindy Traisi, Because They Matter, Too, page 14

4. slangTo strike someone or something repeatedly or very forcefully.

   "Let go of me, Claudius! I'm leaving!" I said between gritted teeth and whacked up his chest.

   2023, Iro Blahnik, The Ruthless Alpha's Innocent Breeder（Part II

   4 more examples

   The long check-rein whacked up the leader, and sent the whole team on a brisk trot down the winding grade to the music of a black-snake whip, its sharp notes resounding among the hills and vales of the "blue-grass land."

   1883, John Alexander Joyce, A Checkered Life, page 25

   Five months or so have now passed since I was with John in New York and I am now sitting in 'the bunker' at Beggars–the basement floor of the building where Tim can quite happily whack up his bass beats and not disturb the neighbours waiting his arrival.

   1987, “The Rebirth of John Rocca”, in Blues & Soul, numbers 474-485, page 18

   They got whacked up in the air a bit, and after that Humphries decided he needed a Rule 43 protection in the block —isolation from other prisoners.

   2009, Tony Lambrianou, Inside the Firm - The Untold Story of The Krays' Reign of Terror

   One night Stephan was off somewhere, I took myself a hammer. I went out to that car and I did a number on its underside. Whacked it up.

   2021, Louise Erdrich, The Red Convertible: Selected and New Stories, 1978-2008, page 6

5. idiomaticslangTo control or dominate someone or something in a thorough or severe manner.

   District 50 is trying to whack up the AFL- CIO, " said Carlough, "why doesn't the AFL - CIO go out and whack up District 50?"

   1961, Edward J. Carlough, Aluminum Light, page 9

6. idiomaticslangTo create or produce in a sudden or haphazard manner.

   After I'd washed up I put on a pot of coffee and whacked up a big batch of biscuits.

   1994, Ralph Moody, Horse of a Different Color, page 242

   4 more examples

   And at intervals from behind the veil of the temple is heard the voice of the foreman demanding three inches of wit and six lines of religious meditation, or bidding him turn off the wisdom and whack up some pathos.

   1911, Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary

   Or perhaps you'd like a row of outlets over a workbench. Another guard whacks up metal raceway in minutes.

   1956 December, Jerry Parker, “Blow That Stud Down!”, in Popular Science, volume 169, number 6, page 156

   I'll whack up a bit of toast and I've got some cinnamon,' she said, 'somewhere. I'll whack up cinnamon toast.'

   2013, Shonagh Koea, The Best of Shonagh Koea's Short Stories

   They came from countries where you just whacked up a scaffold with bamboo and string and when everything collapsed you covered up the whole mess by throwing the buildings and bodies into giant holes in the ground and starting again.

   2019, Felicity Castagna, No More Boats

7. idiomaticslangTo gather together; to accumulate or come up with.

   Worships the ground you tread on but can't whack up the ginger to tell you so.

   1922, The Cosmopolitan - Volume 72, page 74

   3 more examples

   The men was all to the Banks, and Counahan he whacked up an iverlastin' hard crowd fer crew.

   1897, Rudyard Kipling, "Captains Courageous": A Story of the Grand Banks, page 173

   When the chaps who are in are all out, the other team goes in for their whack and if they can whack up more runs before they're out than the other chaps did while they were in, they're the winners.

   1987, Dixon Scott, A Fresh Wind in the Willows, page 13

   Sometimes we'd make decent money . We'd whack up five, six , seven thousand dollars, so you might grab anywhere from a "G" to a couple thousand a night.

   2006, Allen M. Hornblum, Confessions of a Second Story Man, page 138

8. idiomaticslangTo inject an illegal drug.

   When I barged in, he had a needle hanging out of his arm... He asked me if I wanted to try it and I did ... I whacked up right then.'

   2018, Tim Watson-Munro, A Shrink in the Clink

   2 more examples

   If I tried to whack up I wouldn't get a vein it would clog up with blood, the works, the syringe, would clog up with blood and that's it,

   2003, Peter Aggleton, Peter Davies, Graham Hart, Aids: Safety, Sexuality and Risk, page 134

   I seen my mum whacking up in front of me and I remember I asked her one day, I said, 'Fucking let me have a shot of that, ' ... And ... she turned around and she goes, ' If you're going to do it in front of anybody, you do it in front of me.'

   2020, Mark Halsey, Melissa de Vel-Palumbo, Generations Through Prison

9. slangTo hit, send, or move forward or upward quickly or forcefully.

   Swinging through, the batter whacks it up the left field line .

   2001, Lisa M. Tillmann-Healy, Between Gay and Straight, page 47

   3 more examples

   The sedan careened, flopped over to the right. Its headlights whacked up and then gracefully swept down into emptiness.

   2012, L. Ron Hubbard, Mouthpiece

   Once spotting Razza, a top-tier customer, he whacks up his thumb.

   2022, George Veck, One Visit

   Gloria's knowledge of his predilections, worth every ounce of cocaine she whacked up her snout;

   2022, Vinnie Green, How to Steal Ten Million Dollars, page 143

10. idiomaticTo increase or raise by a sizeable amount.

    Dad whacks up the heating in the people carrier.

    2021, Juno Dawson, Stay Another Day

    3 more examples

    Every time they need more money, they whack up personal income tax and they spend the money. They need more money ; they whack up excise on fuel.

    2001, Australia. Parliament, Parliamentary Debates (Hansard).: House of Representatives, page 26050

    Frying onions whacks up the count – 100g of fried onions contains 146 calories.

    2008, Kate Santon, Perfect Calorie Counting

    That whacks up his glandular system and cool - o' - I'm here! "

    2018, Jon Morris, The League of Regrettable Sidekicks, page 178

11. idiomaticslangTo mess up.

    Did he get whacked up on ninety-nines and trash your auntie's shop?

    2011, Allie Spencer, Summer Loving, page 40

    2 more examples

    on all the long bars it was even; the short bars we would leave in—that is, whack up the length; so that the short bars wouldn't come out as far as the long bars; but I put some of the short bars on the long bars and some of the long bars on the short bars;

    1957, Burrhus Frederic Skinner, Verbal Behavior, page 4

    His memory was all whacked up and it took him years until he was almost normal.

    2023, Bob Bitchin, King Harbor