Pronounced: GRAM-uh-ree, noun
Notes: Some people may know this; it has a pretty specific meaning
Yesterday’s word
The word flack means “to provide publicity: engage in press-agentry”
First usage
Our word didn’t come into English until the 1960s
Background / Comments
After seeing the definition, I recalled hearing or reading the phrase “to flack for <someone>”, which is the meaning of our word. I thought the noun might refer to anti-aircraft gun-fire, but that word is “flak”. The noun version of our word means “publicity agent” and came into usage in the 1930s. Our word derived from the noun form. Officially, the origin of the noun form is said to be unknown; however, one story is that the word originated as a tribute to Gene Flack, a well-known publicist of the 1930s. Another story is the origin is a similar-sounded Yiddish word that refers to someone who talks about someone else’s affairs.
Richard's Vocabulary Word-of-the-Day 