gook
B2Meanings
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1
noun
A person of (South) East Asian descent (originally revolutionaries of the Katipunan then generally to any native of the Philippines, after the enemy and collaborators hid amongst them), but now especially:
A few days later he had a 'damned good party' at NORMASH, drinking brandy, and he then 'beat up a Gook [Korean] village.' This resulted in an 'awful hangover all day', […] Later, he walked back to his unit, alone at three o'clock in the morning, having 'swiped a Gook torch.'
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2
noun
A foreigner (to the speaker), especially the (enemy) natives of a place the speaker's military is at war with or in.
"Haiti is a country with a history, […]" "but how about the Marines, and the gendarmerie; aren't they on the job?" […] "You know darn well a civilian can't get away with handling a gook like a Marine can; […]"
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3
noun
Grime or mud.
"Roost No More" was a yellow gook that Joe's people would spread around, for a fee, on the ledges of houses and commercial buildings plagued by pigeons.
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4
noun
A dull or hapless person.
the poor old gook was spitting blood
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5
noun
A bonnet (headwear).
Some say 'Mar Teazer do live in pattens and gook; must go to bed in 'em I'm thinking!
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6
noun
(slang) a disparaging term for an Asian person (especially for North Vietnamese soldiers in the Vietnam War)
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7
noun
any thick, viscous matter
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8
verb
Synonym of look.
Etymology
First attested in the 1890s, US military slang in reference to Filipinos (in particular, it is defined in an 1893 citation in Slang and Its Analogues as referring to prostitutes who followed army camps; it is defined similarly in a 1914 work). The word was used for Nicaraguans during the US military occupation there in the 1910s, and for Haitians during the US invasion there, when Herbert Seligman noted in 1920 that "The Haitians … are nicknamed 'Gooks'". Other early uses in the 1920 and 30s still refer to people from the Philippines (a 1921 work refers to the Philippines as "Gook Land"), and…
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