Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. Sports An incompetent or easily defeated athlete, especially a prizefighter.
- n. Slang A stupid or clumsy person.
Wiktionary
- n. US slang A stupid, oafish or clumsy person.
- n. US, boxing Someone incompetent or untalented in the specified area.
WordNet 3.0
- n. a second-rate prize fighter
Etymologies
- Possibly, from Polish surname Paluka, or variant of Polack. (Wiktionary)
- Origin unknown. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“It's important to note that none of the potential cost-cutting measures I've mentioned touch the big palooka.”
The Huffington Post: Tom Engelhardt: Cutting $100 Billion?... Easy -- If Only Washington Had a Brain
“This is the guy that Federal should have signed up instead of the wrestling palooka.”
““Better than hitting some poor old palooka in the head,” Ruth replied.”
“I saw the big Irish palooka come out and head toward his car.”
“The best stories are usually when his bulldog, Mike, also plays a part, as the big dumb palooka gets into trouble with his loyal powerhouse furry friend.”
Science Fiction, Fantasy, Horror: Waterfront Fists and Others - Robert E. Howard
“Ah, there he is, just a lone palooka undertaking his civic duty.”
The Huffington Post: Robert Teitelman: Transactions: Nov. 15, 2010
“So Obama's not the first palooka she's dumped in the fifth round.”
“After several years as a whiskey-soaked, washed-up boxer-turned-mob enforcer, the palooka Jack Murdock has turned his life around.”
Marvel Comics Solicitations for August 2007 | Major Spoilers - Comic Book Reviews and News
“Lobes - you big palooka - we were wondering which country you were in at present - and the night was a pretty big one too… Nautilus took photos.”
“Now it looks like Goode is a palooka who picked on the wrong Muslim.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘palooka’.
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Another 250 Spelling Words
Another range of words from the intermediate to the advanced speller's level.
cherimoya, parthenogenesis, sommelier, bupkis, kichel, voulge, indivisibility, retiarius, sewellel, vihuela, ossature, jalfrezi and 238 more...
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The weird, the wonderful and the plai...
Loved for their ingenuity, an exact description, or simply for the pure joy of it.
acidulous, aprosdoketon, higgledy-piggledy, lexicographical, ninja, audacious, somnabulist, shivaree, amorphous, quidnunc, glib, melancholy and 353 more...
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Unsavory characters
absconder, aretaloger, arriviste, avaunter, bamboozler, bandit, banger, barbarian, barmecide, barrator, beldam, blatherskite and 190 more...
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runciblespooner's list
skrimshanker, spooner, runcible, buffoon, bounder, dolt, palooka, ultracrepidation, umbrella, cunt, cancer
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• How to make a worker cry (derogativ...
What?! And I'm supposed to pay for your lousy work, you... you...
dauber, pettifogger, tinker, quill-driver, rhymester, numbnuts, peer, cartophiling, notaphily, speleology, letterboxing, metrophile and 43 more...
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ShuckFinn's Words
abecedarian, conflate, mondegreen, whit, truculent, downright, pugnacious, effluvium, canker, inveigle, obfuscate, melancholy and 227 more...
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SoSheShall's list
slurp, coeur, slurple, glop, perp, fluarxx, ropechno, herrherr, burrduhherrherr, sloppy, cheezie balls, eccentric and 634 more...
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Sound or sequence
dulcimer, borborygmi, ecchymosis, scrivener, fustilugs, zarf, bawdyhouse, googleable, archfiend, gymkhana, cuckoopint, pilpul and 104 more...
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The braggadocio recipe
A selection of English* words ending with a vowel (except "y", "ea", ie", "ee", "oo", "ea", "ou") that is REALLY pronounced.
My favorite English words, by the way.
The good twin of The ...braggadocio, recipe, encyclopedia, solo, gnu, flu, maybe, apocope, mini, arrhythmia, folio, stereo and 197 more...
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Name-Calling for Fun and Profit
I figured out the thing all these terms have in common, besides that they can be used as insults. They all crack me up.
drip, yahoo, dweeb, nimrod, wanker, nincompoop, weasel, skank, fussbudget, dink, twit, guttersnipe and 125 more...
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ADW2
nudnik, temper, intercalate, cleave, scowl, chapfallen, malapropos, disport, annals, paean, paradisiacal, whet and 362 more...
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daleshipley's Words
brinksmanship, contravene, teleological, sartorial, conventicle, habiliment, tendentious, acrimonious, ontology, epistemology, impugn, dysphasia and 219 more...
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stpeter's Words
abase, abasement, abashed, abdicate, aberrant, abeyance, abhor, abhorrent, abide, abject, ablation, abnegation and 3536 more...
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p is for...
my favorite voiceless bilabial plosive.
panacea, persnickety, panache, provenance, preternatural, penumbra, perfunctory, perspicacity, potentate, pinguid, plainsong, pleonastic and 228 more...
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Words of Whimsy & Grace
abecedary, addendum, ampersand, anachronism, avuncular, balderdash, barnacle, befuddle, behemoth, bejeebers, blabbermouth, blatherskite and 465 more...
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librarygoblin's words
crystal, ghost, mist, snow, labyrinth, citadel, tomb, mystery, arcane, conundrum, echo, dynamo and 389 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for palooka.
reesetee Yes. We let him think that. ;-> Oct 29, 2009
chained_bear Also, he has no nipples. (By his own claim.) Oct 28, 2009
reesetee Not our palooka. Our palooka is a gracious, amusing, but steely-eyed leader of Wordie Treatment battles. :-) Oct 27, 2009
super-labmaven from YourDictionary.com:
noun
Slang: a clumsy or oafish fellow, esp. an inept athlete Oct 27, 2009
zuccaciyecioglu This is on the National Spelling Bee Master Word List, under words that occur frequently. Origin unknown, if memory serves. Sep 26, 2008