bunker

American  

[buhng-ker] / ˈbʌŋ kər /

noun

1. a large bin or receptacle; a fixed chest or box.

   a coal bunker.

2. a fortification set mostly below the surface of the ground with overhead protection provided by logs and earth or by concrete and fitted with openings through which guns may be fired.

3. Golf. any obstacle, as a sand trap or mound of dirt, constituting a hazard.

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verb (used with object)

1. Nautical.

   1. to provide fuel for (a vessel).

   2. to convey (bulk cargo, except grain) from a vessel to an adjacent storehouse.

2. Golf. to hit (a ball) into a bunker.

3. to equip with or as if with bunkers.

   to bunker an army's defenses.

bunker British  

/ ˈbʌŋkə /

noun

1. a large storage container or tank, as for coal

2. Also called (esp US and Canadian): sand trap.  an obstacle on a golf course, usually a sand-filled hollow bordered by a ridge

3. an underground shelter, often of reinforced concrete and with a bank and embrasures for guns above ground

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verb

1. (tr) golf

   1. to drive (the ball) into a bunker

   2. (passive) to have one's ball trapped in a bunker

2. (tr) nautical

   1. to fuel (a ship)

   2. to transfer (cargo) from a ship to a storehouse

Etymology

Origin of bunker

First recorded in 1750–60; earlier bonkar ( Scots ) “box, chest, serving also as a seat,” of obscure origin

Explanation

A bunker is an underground shelter, the kind you might build to prepare for a zombie apocalypse. (Be sure to stock up on canned food.) If you talk about a bunker today, most people assume you mean a shelter that's used during war, like a foxhole, or a safe underground or recessed place. Golfers will think you mean an obstacle on a golf course, a depression that's filled with sand. Another kind of bunker is a compartment that's used to store fuel on large ships — the oil itself is known as bunker fuel. The original fuel bunkers held coal, but today they typically contain oil. Bunker comes from a Scottish word for "bench."

Example Sentences

Bunker vessels hunker in the area for months or years, providing a steady supply of fuel.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 28, 2026

They also visited the nearby Battle of Britain Bunker, where they laid a commemorative wreath.

From BBC • May 27, 2026

These include "Bunker," a massive fossil displayed at the University of Kansas, and "Sophie," which is exhibited at the Yale Peabody Museum.

From Science Daily • May 23, 2026

The county is gradually moving workers into the 55-story skyscraper at the base of Bunker Hill that was widely considered one of the city’s most desirable office buildings when it was completed in 1991.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 3, 2026

For the commanding officer, Washington picked Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Knowlton, a veteran of the French and Indian War and a hero of Bunker Hill.

From "George Washington, Spymaster" by Thomas B. Allen

Related Words

• dugout
• fortification
• shelter