gank

See also: Gank

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɡæŋk/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -æŋk

Etymology 1

1980s, of uncertain origin; possibly imitative or a derivation from gangster.

Verb

gank (third-person singular simple present ganks, present participle ganking, simple past and past participle ganked)

1. (transitive, slang) To swindle.
   • 1989, “Car Thief”, in Paul's Boutique, performed by Beastie Boys:

     Then I met this girl she tried to gank me / So I smacked her in the booty with M.C. Plank Bee

   • 2001, Delphine Jamet, Street Kid in the City‎^[1]:

     Jay was ganked (mugged) for $55 by some Noongar boys when Brad told them he had a lot of money on him.

   • 2004, Mike Sager, Scary Monsters and Super Freaks: Stories of Sex, Drugs, Rock 'n' Roll and Murder, page 135:

     Just as Eazy had robbed Lonzo at Crew Cut Records, Suge and Dre had now ganked Eazy. This time, however, there was a slight problem.

   • 2004, U.S. Congress Senate Committee on the Judiciary, Combating Gang Violence in America, page 28:

     And in the old days, you know, if you ganked a drug dealer, they would beat you senseless.

2. (transitive, slang) To steal.
   • 2002, A. K. Stanfield, Zen Smoking: A Mock Epic with Stock Characters, page 261:

     “I ganked these from the Major's house last night,” I explained, reaching into the backpack to withdraw the two books.

   • 2006, N. Frank Daniels, Futureproof, page 206:

     It was one of the syringes Splinter ganked from the hospital the other day when he was in there for chest pains.

Etymology 2

From gang and kill.

Verb

gank (third-person singular simple present ganks, present participle ganking, simple past and past participle ganked)

1. (transitive, Internet, online gaming, slang) To kill much weaker players in an online video game in such a way that they cannot defend themselves.

   Our group totally ganked this guy.

Further reading

• “gank v.”, in Green’s Dictionary of Slang, Jonathon Green, 2016–present

Anagrams

• Kang, kang, knag

Serbo-Croatian

Etymology

From German Gang.

Noun

gank m (Cyrillic spelling ганк)

1. (Kajkavian) passage
2. (Kajkavian) hall, hallway, corridor

Related terms

• prolaz, hodnik