20 April 2018
flak or flack
[flak]
noun
1. antiaircraft fire, especially 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.
Origin of flak
German
1935-1940; German Fl(ieger)a(bwehr)k(anone) antiaircraft gun, equivalent to Flieger aircraft (literally, flyer) + Abwehr defense + Kanone gun, cannon
Can be confused
flack, flak.
Dictionary.com
Examples from the Web for flak
Contemporary Examples
It felt to me like a plane flying through the flak of an economy.
F-111: Death-Dealing, Pop-Art Masterpiece
Nicolaus Mills
October 15, 2014
You fired off a tweet about ISIS recently that got you some flak.
Bill Maher: ‘Sorry J. Law, We’re Going to Have to Look at Your Nipples…’
Marlow Stern
September 10, 2014
They looked younger now than when weighed down in camouflage, flak jackets and helmets.
Shakeup In the Ukraine Rebel High Command
Jamie Dettmer
August 15, 2014
When NYC Prep premiered, it got a lot of flak for the sheer gall of its unreality.
The Surreal Genius of Bravo’s Rich Kids Docudrama ‘NYC Prep’
Amy Zimmerman
April 23, 2014
He was bare armed under a protective jacket a jail official termed “a kind of flak jacket.”
Ex-Cop’s Shooting of Texting Moviegoer Ends in Tragedy
Michael Daly
January 15, 2014
Historical Examples
Sim’s ship had picked up a small piece of flak, but it had done no damage.
A Yankee Flier Over Berlin
Al Avery
Stan laid over and made a sweep, ducking in and out of the flak.
A Yankee Flier Over Berlin
Al Avery
Over the estuary of the Rhine River Stan met his first flak.
A Yankee Flier Over Berlin
Al Avery
I’ll take you right down on top of them, and nuts to their flak fire.
Dave Dawson at Truk
Robert Sydney Bowen
We never worried about the flak much because we could normally avoid it.
The Biography of a Rabbit
Roy Benson
Today’s quote
There are mysteries which men can only guess at, which age by age they may solve only in part.
– Bram Stoker
On this day
20 April 1889 – birth of Adolf Hitler in Austria. Austrian-German politician. German Chancellor from 2 August 1934 – 30 April 1945. Genocidal megalomaniac. Died 30 April 1945.
20 April 1908 – first day of competition in the New South Wales Rugby League.
20 April 1912 – death of Bram Stoker, Irish novellist, author of ‘Dracula’. Born 8 November 1847.
20 April 1918 – German flying ace, Manfred Von Richthoffen (the Red Baron), shoots down his 79th and 80th victims. The following day he was fatally wounded while pursuing a Sopwith Camel. Before yielding to his injuries, Richthoffen landed his plane in an area controlled by the Australian Imperial Force. Richthoffen died moments after allied troops reached him. Witnesses claim his last word was ‘kaputt’, which means broken, ruined, done-in or wasted.
20 April 1939 – Billie Holiday records the first civil rights song, ‘Strange Fruit’.