palooka
/pəˈluːkə
/noun
1North American informal A stupid, uncouth person; a lout: these bearded, stumbling palookas in their peasants' breeches...
- Unless they're all palookas from the South Side, the writers come from leafy suburbs; and that loading zone behind the shopping center is not an alley.
- And frankly, a palooka Rollins is: covered head to toe with tattoos and belching metallic tales of power run amok and self-sufficiency.
- Maybe it's the only reason Neo's been hanging out with an old palooka like me.
1.1US dated An inferior or average prizefighter: he was just another palooka trying to muscle in on the fight racket...
- One boxer has plenty of pop, can hit bad pitches, and is a fun at-bat, while the other is your average palooka with a wood stick.
- Tyson was the palooka in his last fight, knocked out by Danny Williams in the fourth round last July 30.
- Relegated to fighting palookas in tiny towns, he was asked to tape a 10-second promotion for a local TV station in Florida.
Origin
1920s: of unknown origin.
Rhymes
- special creationist
- special delivery
- special deposit
- special development area
- special dividend
- Special Drawing Right
- special drawing rights
- Special Economic Zone
- special edition
- special effect
- special election
- special forces
- special function
- special guest
- special hospital
- special intention
- special interest group
- special investigation
- specialisation
- specialise
- specialised
- specialism
- special issue
- specialist
- specialistic