"palooka" meaning in English

See palooka in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

IPA: /pəˈluːkə/ Audio: En-au-palooka.ogg Forms: palookas [plural]
Etymology: Used in the US since the 1920s, originally primarily of boxers. Popularized by Jack Conway of Variety, who also popularized baloney and bimbo. Further popularized by Ham Fisher in his comic strip Joe Palooka about a boxer (published in newspapers since 1930, particularly popular in 1940s). Etymology templates: {{unk|en|title=Used}} Used Head templates: {{en-noun|s}} palooka (plural palookas)
  1. (US slang) A stupid, oafish or clumsy person. Tags: US, slang Translations (stupid, oafish or clumsy person): knuppel [masculine] (Dutch), klungel [feminine, masculine] (Dutch), palikka (Finnish)
    Sense id: en-palooka-en-noun-f7yzIFNA Categories (other): American English Disambiguation of 'stupid, oafish or clumsy person': 94 6
  2. (US, boxing, bridge, etc) Someone incompetent or untalented. Tags: US Categories (topical): Boxing, Bridge, Athletes, Card games, People, Sports
    Sense id: en-palooka-en-noun-Mu2eM6rh Disambiguation of Athletes: 27 73 Disambiguation of Card games: 22 78 Disambiguation of People: 35 65 Disambiguation of Sports: 19 81 Categories (other): American English, English entries with incorrect language header, Entries with translation boxes, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries, Terms with Dutch translations, Terms with Finnish translations Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 42 58 Disambiguation of Entries with translation boxes: 34 66 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 34 66 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 35 65 Disambiguation of Terms with Dutch translations: 30 70 Disambiguation of Terms with Finnish translations: 36 64 Topics: boxing, bridge, games, government, hobbies, lifestyle, martial-arts, military, politics, sports, war
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Derived forms: Palookaville Related terms: tomato can [boxing, martial-arts, sports, military, war, government, politics, hobbies, lifestyle]

Inflected forms

{
  "derived": [
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "Palookaville"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "title": "Used"
      },
      "expansion": "Used",
      "name": "unk"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "Used in the US since the 1920s, originally primarily of boxers. Popularized by Jack Conway of Variety, who also popularized baloney and bimbo. Further popularized by Ham Fisher in his comic strip Joe Palooka about a boxer (published in newspapers since 1930, particularly popular in 1940s).",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "palookas",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "s"
      },
      "expansion": "palooka (plural palookas)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "related": [
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "topics": [
        "boxing",
        "martial-arts",
        "sports",
        "military",
        "war",
        "government",
        "politics",
        "hobbies",
        "lifestyle"
      ],
      "word": "tomato can"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "American English",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A stupid, oafish or clumsy person."
      ],
      "id": "en-palooka-en-noun-f7yzIFNA",
      "links": [
        [
          "stupid",
          "stupid"
        ],
        [
          "oafish",
          "oafish"
        ],
        [
          "clumsy",
          "clumsy"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(US slang) A stupid, oafish or clumsy person."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "US",
        "slang"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "_dis1": "94 6",
          "code": "nl",
          "lang": "Dutch",
          "sense": "stupid, oafish or clumsy person",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "knuppel"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "94 6",
          "code": "nl",
          "lang": "Dutch",
          "sense": "stupid, oafish or clumsy person",
          "tags": [
            "feminine",
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "klungel"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "94 6",
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "stupid, oafish or clumsy person",
          "word": "palikka"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "American English",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Boxing",
          "orig": "en:Boxing",
          "parents": [
            "Sports",
            "Human activity",
            "Human behaviour",
            "Human",
            "All topics",
            "Fundamental"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Bridge",
          "orig": "en:Bridge",
          "parents": [
            "Card games",
            "Games",
            "Recreation",
            "Human activity",
            "Human behaviour",
            "Human",
            "All topics",
            "Fundamental"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "42 58",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "34 66",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Entries with translation boxes",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "34 66",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "35 65",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "30 70",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Dutch translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "36 64",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Finnish translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "27 73",
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Athletes",
          "orig": "en:Athletes",
          "parents": [
            "Occupations",
            "Sports",
            "People",
            "Work",
            "Human activity",
            "Human",
            "Human behaviour",
            "All topics",
            "Fundamental"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "22 78",
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Card games",
          "orig": "en:Card games",
          "parents": [
            "Games",
            "Recreation",
            "Human activity",
            "Human behaviour",
            "Human",
            "All topics",
            "Fundamental"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "35 65",
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "People",
          "orig": "en:People",
          "parents": [
            "Human",
            "All topics",
            "Fundamental"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "19 81",
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Sports",
          "orig": "en:Sports",
          "parents": [
            "Human activity",
            "Human behaviour",
            "Human",
            "All topics",
            "Fundamental"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1923 March, Lincoln Star, Nebraska:",
          "text": "But [Jack] Dempsey against some palooka who had been press agented into greatness and into the form of a Dempsey menace — that would pack any outdoor arena.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1994, Quentin Tarantino, Roger Avary, Pulp Fiction:",
          "text": "Butch: Lookin' at somethin', friend?\nVincent: I ain't your friend, palooka.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Someone incompetent or untalented."
      ],
      "id": "en-palooka-en-noun-Mu2eM6rh",
      "links": [
        [
          "boxing",
          "boxing#Noun"
        ],
        [
          "incompetent",
          "incompetent"
        ],
        [
          "untalented",
          "untalented"
        ]
      ],
      "qualifier": "etc",
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(US, boxing, bridge, etc) Someone incompetent or untalented."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ],
      "topics": [
        "boxing",
        "bridge",
        "games",
        "government",
        "hobbies",
        "lifestyle",
        "martial-arts",
        "military",
        "politics",
        "sports",
        "war"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/pəˈluːkə/"
    },
    {
      "audio": "En-au-palooka.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/b/b8/En-au-palooka.ogg/En-au-palooka.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b8/En-au-palooka.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "wikipedia": [
    "H. L. Mencken",
    "Ham Fisher",
    "Joe Palooka",
    "The American Language"
  ],
  "word": "palooka"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "English 3-syllable words",
    "English countable nouns",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English nouns",
    "English terms with unknown etymologies",
    "Entries with translation boxes",
    "Pages with 1 entry",
    "Pages with entries",
    "Terms with Dutch translations",
    "Terms with Finnish translations",
    "en:Athletes",
    "en:Card games",
    "en:People",
    "en:Sports"
  ],
  "derived": [
    {
      "word": "Palookaville"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "title": "Used"
      },
      "expansion": "Used",
      "name": "unk"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "Used in the US since the 1920s, originally primarily of boxers. Popularized by Jack Conway of Variety, who also popularized baloney and bimbo. Further popularized by Ham Fisher in his comic strip Joe Palooka about a boxer (published in newspapers since 1930, particularly popular in 1940s).",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "palookas",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "s"
      },
      "expansion": "palooka (plural palookas)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "related": [
    {
      "topics": [
        "boxing",
        "martial-arts",
        "sports",
        "military",
        "war",
        "government",
        "politics",
        "hobbies",
        "lifestyle"
      ],
      "word": "tomato can"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "American English",
        "English slang"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A stupid, oafish or clumsy person."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "stupid",
          "stupid"
        ],
        [
          "oafish",
          "oafish"
        ],
        [
          "clumsy",
          "clumsy"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(US slang) A stupid, oafish or clumsy person."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "US",
        "slang"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "American English",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "Quotation templates to be cleaned",
        "en:Boxing",
        "en:Bridge"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1923 March, Lincoln Star, Nebraska:",
          "text": "But [Jack] Dempsey against some palooka who had been press agented into greatness and into the form of a Dempsey menace — that would pack any outdoor arena.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1994, Quentin Tarantino, Roger Avary, Pulp Fiction:",
          "text": "Butch: Lookin' at somethin', friend?\nVincent: I ain't your friend, palooka.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Someone incompetent or untalented."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "boxing",
          "boxing#Noun"
        ],
        [
          "incompetent",
          "incompetent"
        ],
        [
          "untalented",
          "untalented"
        ]
      ],
      "qualifier": "etc",
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(US, boxing, bridge, etc) Someone incompetent or untalented."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ],
      "topics": [
        "boxing",
        "bridge",
        "games",
        "government",
        "hobbies",
        "lifestyle",
        "martial-arts",
        "military",
        "politics",
        "sports",
        "war"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/pəˈluːkə/"
    },
    {
      "audio": "En-au-palooka.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/b/b8/En-au-palooka.ogg/En-au-palooka.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b8/En-au-palooka.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "nl",
      "lang": "Dutch",
      "sense": "stupid, oafish or clumsy person",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "knuppel"
    },
    {
      "code": "nl",
      "lang": "Dutch",
      "sense": "stupid, oafish or clumsy person",
      "tags": [
        "feminine",
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "klungel"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "stupid, oafish or clumsy person",
      "word": "palikka"
    }
  ],
  "wikipedia": [
    "H. L. Mencken",
    "Ham Fisher",
    "Joe Palooka",
    "The American Language"
  ],
  "word": "palooka"
}

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This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-11-06 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-10-02 using wiktextract (fbeafe8 and 7f03c9b). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.