Polack

[poh-lahk, -lak]

noun

Slang: Extremely Disparaging and Offensive. a contemptuous term used to refer to a Pole or person of Polish descent.

Origin of Polack

First recorded in 1590–1600, Polack is from the Polish word polak a Pole

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

Examples from the Web for polack

Historical Examples of polack

He tried to reason with them; but the Hungarians and Polack miners know no reason.
Elizabeth Hobart at Exeter Hall
Jean K. Baird
He danced away like a Polack right merrily with his family, and stuck the rod behind the fur.
Titan: A Romance v. 1 (of 2)
Jean Paul Friedrich Richter
A Polack man showed a torn hand that had come under an ax-handle.
In the Heart of a Fool
William Allen White
The cry echoed back short from a hundred Polack throats, and they sent a splitter; it was plain they were mad for blood.
Held for Orders
Frank H. Spearman
In such a cause, any soldier, were he but a Polack Scythe-man, shall be welcome.
Sartor Resartus, and On Heroes, Hero-Worship, and the Heroic in History
Thomas Carlyle

British Dictionary definitions for polack

Polack

noun

derogatory, slang a Pole or a person of Polish descent

Word Origin for Polack

C16: from Polish Polak Pole

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 polack

Polack

"Polish person," 1570s, from Polish Polak "(male) Polish person," related to Poljane "Poles," Polsko "Poland," polski "Polish" (see Pole). In North American usage, "Polish immigrant, person of Polish descent" (1879) and in that context considered offensive in English. As an adjective from c.1600.