flack
A publicist, a publicity agent.
Noun Canada, US
- A publicist, a publicity agent.
- Edward Bernay, who was a consultant to the US Delegation to the Versailles Peace Conference which terminated the first World War (and who finally wound up as a flack for the United Fruit Company in Latin America),...
- Thought you were flack," she said. "I'm not flack." "All right, P.R., a reporter, a novelist." - 1999, Patricia Cornwell, The Southern Cross, page 233:
- In July, Nick Clegg, a former Deputy Prime Minister of the U.K. who is now a top flack at Facebook, published a piece on AdAge.com and on the company’s official blog titled “Facebook Does Not Benefit from Hate,” in...
Origin
Most likely flak.
Forms
Derived
Noun alt of, alternative
- Alternative spelling of flak.
Origin
Variant of flak.
Forms
Verb intransitive, obsolete
- To flutter; palpitate.
- To hang loosely; flag.
- To beat by flapping.
Origin
From Middle English flacken (“to palpitate, flutter”), from Old English *flaccian, from Proto-West Germanic *flakkōn, from Proto-Germanic *flakkōną (“to beat”), from Proto-Indo-European *pleḱ-, which could be related to Ancient Greek πλάζω (plázō, “to turn away from”). Akin to Middle Dutch vlacken (“to flicker, flash, sparkle”), Danish flakke (“to wander”), Swedish flacka (“to rove, rove about, ramble”), Icelandic flakka (“to move”). Compare also Icelandic flaka (“to flap, hang loose”), Swedish flaxa (“to flap, flutter”).
Forms
Derived
Verb Canada, US
- To publicise, to promote.
- [..] he told funny stories about his early days in the theater district, flacking shows up and down the street, but Klara wasn’t listening. - 1997, Don DeLillo, Underworld: