A polthogue is an Irish English word for a sharp blow or smack — the kind of hit that's more emphatic than a tap but less severe than a full-on punch. The word has a satisfyingly chunky sound that almost mimics the impact it describes. Used in Ireland, especially in older or more dialectal speech, it conveys a physical strike with a faintly comic, theatrical edge. It's the sort of word an Irish granny might use to describe what she threatened to give a misbehaving child.
He got a polthogue across the ear for answering back, and that was the end of the argument.
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(Ireland) A blow; a smack.
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Regional slang from around the English-speaking world — British, Australian, Irish, Caribbean, Nigerian, Filipino, AAVE, and the hyphenated-English dialects that make the internet sound local.
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