bunch

[buhnch]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR bunch ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

a connected group; cluster: a bunch of grapes.

a group of things: a bunch of papers.

Informal. a group of people: They're a fine bunch of students.

a knob; lump; protuberance.

verb (used with object)

to group together; make a bunch of.

verb (used without object)

to gather into a cluster; gather together.

(of fabric or clothing) to gather into folds (often followed by up).

Origin of bunch

1275–1325; Middle English bunche; of uncertain origin

Related formsun·bunched, adjective

Synonyms for bunch

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR bunch ON THESAURUS.COM

1, 2. lot, batch.

Synonym study

1, 2. See bundle.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for bunch

bevy, group, crowd, cluster, mess, chunk, flock, number, bundle, batch, band, pile, gang, lot, assemblage, mob, assortment, crew, stack, multitude

Examples from the Web for bunch

Contemporary Examples of bunch

I've seen video of that satirical guide to SXSW in 1998 where you asked a bunch of bands odd questions.
Coffee Talk with Fred Armisen: On ‘Portlandia,’ Meeting Obama, and Taylor Swift’s Greatness
Marlow Stern
January 7, 2015
The zoologist at University of Tubingen in Germany gave a bunch of spiders some LSD.
Zebra Finches, Dolphins, Elephants, and More Animals Under the Influence
Bill Schulz
December 31, 2014
After a bunch of tough talk, this round of the hacker-on-hacker fight nevered materialized.
The Attack on the Hidden Internet
Marc Rogers
December 29, 2014
As a producer on The Gambler, he read a bunch of women for the female lead, and settled on Larson.
Brie Larson’s Hollywood Transformation
Marlow Stern
December 29, 2014
Because they were short on money, the family moved around a bunch—with Malone living in 27 different places by the time she was 9.
Jena Malone’s Long, Strange Trip From Homelessness to Hollywood Stardom
Marlow Stern
December 22, 2014

Historical Examples of bunch

Well, the boy runs his eye over the bunch, and then picks the pinto right off.
Way of the Lawless
Max Brand
Her mother took the bunch of flowers out of her hand and looked at it.
Life and Death of Harriett Frean
May Sinclair
I told him that I was with the bunch first and last and all the time.
Way of the Lawless
Max Brand
One of them called his own horse and it broke out of the bunch and ran toward him.
The Trail Book
Mary Austin
Each of the guests had now taken his bunch of grapes upon his plate.
The Miraculous Pitcher
Nathaniel Hawthorne

British Dictionary definitions for bunch

bunch

noun

a number of things growing, fastened, or grouped togethera bunch of grapes; a bunch of keys

a collection; groupa bunch of queries

informal a group or companya bunch of boys

archaic a protuberance

verb

(sometimes foll by up) to group or be grouped into a bunch

Word Origin for bunch

C14: of obscure origin

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for bunch

early 14c., "protuberance on the body, swelling," perhaps echoic of the sound of hitting and connected to bump (cf., possibly in similar relationship, hump/hunch).

The sense of "cluster" is mid-15c.; connection with the earlier sense is obscure, and this may be a separate word, perhaps through a nasalized form of Old French bouge (2), 15c., from Flemish boudje diminutive of boud "bundle." Meaning "a lot, a group" is from 1620s.

"to bulge out," late 14c., from bunch (n.). Meaning "to gather up in a bunch" (transitive) is from 1828; sense of "to crowd together" (intransitive) is from 1873. Related: Bunched; bunching.