able whackets
See also: ablewhackets
English
Alternative forms
- abel-wackets, abelwhackets, ablewhackets, ablewackets
Etymology
Possibly from able, as in able seaman, and whack.
Pronunciation
Audio (AU) (file)
Noun
able whackets pl (plural only)
- (nautical slang, now historical) Blows on the hand from a knotted or twisted handkerchief, especially given as a punishment to the loser of certain card games. [from 18th c.]
- 1905, John Masefield, Sea Life in Nelson's Time, IV:
- The chief amusement or game in use in the midshipmen's berth, was ‘able whackets’, a pastime in which cards, blasphemy, and hard knocks were agreeably mingled.
- 2008, Amitav Ghosh, Sea of Poppies, Penguin 2015, p.15:
- Instead of the usual sailors' games of cards and ablewhackets, there was the clicking of dice, with games of parcheesi unfolding on chequerboards of rope […].
- 1905, John Masefield, Sea Life in Nelson's Time, IV:
References
- Grose, Francis (1788) A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, 2nd edition, page 1
- Farmer, John Stephen (1890) Slang and Its Analogues, volume 1, page 6
Anagrams
- abelwhackets