Word.ws English Dictionary

palooka

/pəˈluːkə/

palooka noun: a stupid, oafish or clumsy person.

Noun

palooka (plural palookas)

  1. (US, slang) A stupid, oafish or clumsy person.
    • What’s more, Friends offers someone for everyone: a tall, dorky, insecure guy (David Schwimmer); a ditzy, guitar-strumming blonde (Lisa Kudrow); a handsome, jean-clad palooka (Matt LeBlanc); a sarcastic, 9-to-5-ing funnyman ([Matthew] Perry); a dark-haired, blue-eyed Veronica (Courteney Cox); and a...1996 March 7, Rich Cohen, “Jennifer Aniston: The Girl Friend”, in Rolling Stone
  2. (US, etc) Someone incompetent or untalented.
    • But [Jack] Dempsey against some palooka who had been press agented into greatness and into the form of a Dempsey menace — that would pack any outdoor arena.1923 March, Lincoln Star, Nebraska
    • Butch: Lookin' at somethin', friend?
      Vincent: I ain't your friend, palooka.1994, Quentin Tarantino, Roger Avary, Pulp Fiction

palooka meaning in Tamil

palooka in Tamil

மோசமான விளையாட்டு வீரர், அனுபவமில்லாத, திறமையில்லாத குத்துச்சண்டை வீரர், முட்டாள்தனமான, முரட்டுச் சுபாவமுடைய, வீணான நபர்

Forms of palooka

pluralpalookas

Origin of palooka

Used in the US since the 1920s, originally primarily of boxers. Popularized by Jack Conway of Variety, who also popularized baloney and bimbo. Further popularized by Ham Fisher in his comic strip Joe Palooka about a boxer (published in newspapers since 1930, particularly popular in 1940s).

Words formed from palooka

Questions about palooka

What does palooka mean?
Palooka means a stupid, oafish or clumsy person.
What is palooka in Tamil?
Palooka in Tamil is மோசமான விளையாட்டு வீரர், அனுபவமில்லாத, திறமையில்லாத குத்துச்சண்டை வீரர். See Palooka meaning in Tamil.
What part of speech is palooka?
Palooka is a noun.
How do you pronounce palooka?
Palooka is pronounced /pəˈluːkə/.
What is the plural of palooka?
The plural of palooka is palookas.

Words near palooka in the dictionary

  1. palone-omis
  2. palones
  3. Palong
  4. palonidipine
  5. palonosetron
  6. palooka
  7. palookas
  8. Palookaville
  9. Paloona
  10. palooza
  11. paloozas

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: palooka (page history and authors); palooka (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-palooka.ogg.

Cite this entry: “palooka.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/palooka. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.