Dictionary

ack-ack en · NOUN

Etymology

From ack (“A”) + ack (“A”), RAF WWI signalese for AA (“anti-aircraft”). (In modern signalese it would be called alpha-alpha.)

Meanings

1. (countable, slang, uncountable) Antiaircraft artillery.
   • He had thought how down there on the ground, on enemy soil, there were probably hundreds of Ivys, nice Fräuleins with buck teeth and fiancés on U-boats, manning the German ack-ack, all united in an effort to kill him. 2015, Kate Atkinson, A God in Ruins, →ISBN, page 140:
   • The army fired upon us with ack-ack.
   • Ack-acks were set up in the square.
2. (slang, uncountable) Antiaircraft fire.
   • The bomber flew through heavy ack-ack.

Forms

Synonyms

AAA (anti-aircraft gun) · AA (anti-aircraft gun)