fack meaning: definition, etymology and quotations

fack

noun

Etymology From Middle English *fak, fec, fæc (“space, compartment”), from Old English fæc (“space of time, while, division, interval; period of five years, lustrum”), from Proto-West Germanic *fak, from Proto-Germanic *faką (“division, department, space”), from Proto-Indo-European *peh₂ǵ-, *paǵ- (“to fasten, fix”). Cognate with West Frisian fek, Dutch vak (“section, compartment”), German Fach (“compartment”), Swedish fack (“compartment, box, department”), Latin pangō (“fasten, fix”). Doublet of Fach.

UK, Dialectal One of the four stomachs of a ruminating animal; rumen; paunch.

fack

verb

Cockney, UK, Pronunciation spelling, Vulgar Pronunciation spelling of fuck.

Derived terms: fack off

fack

noun

Ireland A long-handed spade, especially used for turf.

Preparation, burning, facks and mattocks.1778, John Wynn Baker, The Reclaiming and Cultivation of a Bog in the County of Kildare, Dublin: S. Powell, page 8:
Tom, in his hurry, had nivir minded the bringin' a fack wid him, so he thought to run home and fetch one, an' that he might know the place agin, he tuk aff one o' his red garthers, and tied it round the bolyawn.1850, Thomas Keightley, The Fairy Mythology, London: H.G. Bohn, page 375:

1 more example

[B]een diggin' into the granite haart of my counthry wud a fack or spade, and a pickaxe, or maybe a plow or a scuffle whin a neighbour'd lind thim, and my loved counthry gev me back - what you're lookin' at this minit.1940, Edwin Sarsfield, The Black Fox Walks, Little and Brown, page 173:

Entry derived from the Wiktionary, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0 — list of authors.