bunk
pronunciation
How to pronounce bunk in British English:
UK [bʌŋk]
How to pronounce bunk in American English:
US [bʌŋk]
-
- Noun:
- a long trough for feeding cattle
- a bed on a ship or train; usually in tiers
- a rough bed (as at a campsite)
- unacceptable behavior (especially ludicrously false statements)
- a message that seems to convey no meaning
- beds built one above the other
-
- Verb:
- avoid paying
- provide with a bunk
- flee; take to one's heels; cut and run
Word Origin
- bunk (n.1)
- "sleeping berth," 1758, probably a shortened form of bunker (n.) in its sense "seat." Bunk-bed (n.) attested by 1869.
- bunk (n.2)
- "nonsense," 1900, short for bunkum, phonetic spelling of Buncombe, a county in North Carolina. The usual story (by 1841) of its origin is this: At the close of the protracted Missouri statehood debates, supposedly on Feb. 25, 1820, N.C. Representative Felix Walker (1753-1828) began what promised to be a "long, dull, irrelevant speech," and he resisted calls to cut it short by saying he was bound to say something that could appear in the newspapers in the home district and prove he was on the job. "I shall not be speaking to the House," he confessed, "but to Buncombe." Bunkum has been American English slang for "nonsense" since 1841 (from 1838 as generic for "a U.S. Representative's home district"). MR. WALKER, of North Carolina, rose then to address the Committee on the question [of Missouri statehood]; but the question was called for so clamorously and so perseveringly that Mr. W. could proceed no farther than to move that the committee rise. [Annals of Congress, House of Representatives, 16th Congress, 1st Session, p. 1539]
- bunk (v.)
- "to sleep in a bunk," 1840, originally nautical, from bunk (n.1). Related: Bunked; bunking.
Example
- 1. From under the duvet of a bunk bed , a bleary head briefly popped up .
- 2. He searched his bunk and the folds of his clothes , but it was nowhere to be found .
- 3. Getting to that top bunk demanded agility ; it was reached by a very vertical , very narrow ladder .
- 4. He would tie it inside the shreds of clothing his captors provided , or tuck it away beneath a bunk slat at night .
- 5. The private security guards who tried to defend the house believed it was too vulnerable , so sky accepted the offer of a bunk on the airfield in a us airforce tent , which she shared with seven men .