mac

[mak]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR mac ON THESAURUS.COM

noun (often initial capital letter) Informal.

fellow; bud (a familiar term of address to a man or boy whose name is not known to the speaker).

Origin of mac

First recorded in 1650–60; special use of Mac

mac

or mack

[mak]

noun Informal.

a mackintosh.

McIntosh.

Origin of mac

shortened form

Mac

[mak]

noun

a male given name.

Mac-

a prefix found in many family names of Irish or Scottish Gaelic origin, as MacBride and Macdonald.

Also Mc- Mc-, M'-.

Origin of Mac-

< Irish, Scots Gaelic mac son, Old Irish macc; akin to Welsh, Cornish mab

Mac.

Maccabees.

M.Ac.

Master of Accountancy.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for mac

laptop, workstation, minicomputer, overcoat, slicker, poncho, mackintosh, mack, clone, brain, calculator, mini, CPU, PC, mainframe, abacus, microcomputer, analog, computer, Macintosh

Examples from the Web for mac

Contemporary Examples of mac

With Mac and Jesse we wanted to establish a friendship that was mostly a product of their common situation and enclosed world.
Nitehawk Shorts Festival: ‘Brute,’ a Twisted Take on Playing in the Dark
Julia Grinberg
November 28, 2014
Brute is the story of Mac and Jesse, two disenfranchised teens who turn to robbing houses as a form of recreation and quick cash.
Nitehawk Shorts Festival: ‘Brute,’ a Twisted Take on Playing in the Dark
Julia Grinberg
November 28, 2014
Fewer and fewer of them, says Mac Naughton, are caught roaming the store “in the middle of the night.”
Walmart Lifts Black Friday’s Curse
James Poulos
November 26, 2014
I remember them coming over all adorable with mac and cheese, collard greens, fried chicken.
All Eyes on Anjelica Huston: The Legendary Actress on Love, Abuse, and Jack Nicholson
Alex Suskind
November 10, 2014
That was my conclusion reading the results of a new survey put out by the MAC AIDS Fund (PDF).
Teens Don't Know HIV Is an STD
Russell Saunders
August 6, 2014

Historical Examples of mac

You've got to have a plot, Mac, and if you've got to have a plot, you've got to have sin.
The Foolish Lovers
St. John G. Ervine
"Don't take that stuff too seriously, Mac," the captain remonstrated.
Astounding Stories of Super-Science, November, 1930
Various
Mac was clutching his shoulder, stirred for once out of his vaunted "deegnity."
The Great Dome on Mercury
Arthur Leo Zagat
"Ask him how far it is to the Fort, Mac," said one of the men.
The Trail of a Sourdough
May Kellogg Sullivan
"But its all Mac's gold, you know," said the cook regretfully.
The Trail of a Sourdough
May Kellogg Sullivan

British Dictionary definitions for mac

mac

mack

noun

British informal short for mackintosh (def. 1), mackintosh (def. 3)

Mac

noun

mainly US and Canadian an informal term of address to a man

Word Origin for Mac

C20: abstracted from Mac-, prefix of Scottish surnames

MAC

abbreviation for

multiplexed analogue component: a transmission coding system for colour television using satellite broadcasting

Mac.

abbreviation for

Maccabees (books of the Apocrypha)

Mac-

Mc- or M'-

prefix

(in surnames of Scottish or Irish Gaelic origin) son ofMacDonald; MacNeice

Word Origin for Mac-

from Goidelic mac son of; compare Welsh mab, Cornish mab

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for mac

Mac

casual, generic term of address for a man, 1928, from Irish and Gaelic mac, a common element in Scottish and Irish names (literally "son of"); hence used generally from early 19c. for "a Celtic Irishman" (see Mac-).

Mac-

common element in Scottish and Irish names, from Old Celtic *makko-s "son." Cognate root *makwos "son" produced Old Welsh map, Welsh mab, ap "son;" also probably cognate with Old English mago "son, attendant, servant," Old Norse mögr "son," Gothic magus "boy, servant," Old English mægð "maid" (see maiden).