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flak

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flak

  [flak]
–noun
1. antiaircraft fire, esp. as experienced by the crews of combat airplanes at which the fire is directed.
2. criticism; hostile reaction; abuse: Such an unpopular decision is bound to draw a lot of flak from the press.
Use flak in a Sentence
Also, flack.

Origin:
1935–40; < G Fl(ieger)a(bwehr)k(anone) antiaircraft gun, equiv. to Flieger aircraft (lit., flyer) + Abwehr defense + Kanone gun, cannon
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2010.
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flak also flack   (flāk)   
n.  

    1. Antiaircraft artillery.

    2. The bursting shells fired from such artillery.

    3. Excessive or abusive criticism.

    4. Dissension; opposition.

  2. Informal

    1. Excessive or abusive criticism.

    2. Dissension; opposition.


[German, from Fl(ieger)a(bwehr)k(anone), aircraft-defense gun.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Slang Dictionary
flak [flæk]

and flack
  1. n.
    complaints; criticism; negative feedback. (Originally referred to antiaircraft guns and the explosions and damage they caused. The first form is an initialism from German Fliegerabwehrkanonen = flyer defense cannons. I.e., the initial fl plus the first a plus the k.) : Why do I have to get all the flak for what you did?
  2. n.
    publicity; hype. : Who is going to believe this flack about being first-rate?
  3. n.
    a public relations agent or officer. : The flak made an announcement and then disappeared.
Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
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Word Origin & History

flak 
1938, from Ger. Flak, acronym for Fliegerabwehrkanone "airplane defense cannon." Sense of "anti-aircraft fire" is 1940; metaphoric sense of "criticism" is c.1963 in Amer.Eng.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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