palooka
Americannoun
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an athlete, especially a boxer, lacking in ability, experience, or competitive spirit.
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a stupid, clumsy person.
noun
Etymology
Origin of palooka
An Americanism dating back to 1920–25; origin uncertain
Explanation
A palooka is a boxer — not a champion but a second-rate fighter. If you were a sports writer in the 1930s, you probably used the word palooka a lot. Plus you probably wore one of those cool fedoras. This funny-looking word has a meaning that's not very funny if it applies to you — a palooka is a boxer who's not very good. Palookas are run-of-the-mill, second- or third-rate boxers whose careers don't go very far. Since success is rare, most fighters are palookas. In the 1920s, Joe Palooka was an American comic strip about a prize fighter who didn’t like to fight.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
We want to be as resilient as one of those bottom-weighted old Joe Palooka toy punching bags that always pops back after a wallop.
From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 16, 2025
Baseball greats Jackie Robinson, Joe DiMaggio and Yogi Berra were in the sports pages, and Joe Palooka was in the comics.
From Washington Post • Apr. 27, 2022
Barely a month after V-J day, Gould was back in his old Shanghai shop feeding the dwindled foreign community the old familiar diet of gossipy chitchat, straight news, Li'l Abner, Joe Palooka and Dorothy Dix.
From Time Magazine Archive
He had planned the birth of a baby boy, Buddy Palooka, for the end of October.
From Time Magazine Archive
In the readership polls Caniff seldom beats out Ham Fisher's hammy Joe Palooka or Chic Young's just-folksy Blondie.
From Time Magazine Archive
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
