˜yÐÄvlog

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whammy

[ wam-ee, hwam-ee ]

noun

Informal.
plural whammies.
  1. a devastating blow, setback, or catastrophe:

    The drought and the high price of fertilizer are a double whammy to farmers.

    The big whammy will be the coming update, which could make our software nonfunctional.

  2. bad luck or misfortune.
  3. Often the wham·my. the evil eye; jinx.


whammy

/ ˈ·É泾ɪ /

noun

  1. something which has great, often negative, impact

    the double whammy of high interest rates and low wage increases

  2. an evil spell or curse

    she was convinced he had put the whammy on her

“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged†2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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˜yÐÄvlog History and Origins

Origin of whammy1

First recorded in 1935–40; wham + -y 2, after a method of jinxing someone by striking the fist into the palm
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˜yÐÄvlog History and Origins

Origin of whammy1

C20: wham + -y ²
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Idioms and Phrases

  1. put the whammy on, Informal.
    1. to give the evil eye to; jinx.
    2. to destroy, end, or eradicate:

      New controls will put the whammy on irresponsible spending.

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Example Sentences

Examples have not been reviewed.

Employers will also pay an increased amount of National Insurance from April, which Mr Astley described as a "double whammy".

From

"We also found that children's social and emotional development has a big impact on their academic results so it's been a double whammy and we predict that GCSEs won't recover for a decade."

From

"Because it's like a kind of a triple whammy; the cost of the electricity and gas, the cost the petrol is up as well therefore the delivery of any food that you eat is up."

From

That means Chinese imports will be subject to a double whammy of new duties and a newly imposed tariff.

From

“The timing couldn’t be worse. It will make for a double whammy for Southern California,†said Sung Won Sohn, professor of finance and economics at Loyola Marymount University.

From

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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.

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