bunk

[ buhngk ]

/ bʌŋk /

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR bunk ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

a built-in platform bed, as on a ship.

Informal. any bed.

a cabin used for sleeping quarters, as in a summer camp; bunkhouse.

a trough for feeding cattle.

verb (used without object)

Informal. to occupy a bunk or any sleeping quarters: Joe and Bill bunked together at camp.

verb (used with object)

to provide with a place to sleep.

Nearby words

Origin of bunk

First recorded in 1750–60; back formation from bunker

bunk

[ buhngk ]

/ bʌŋk /

noun Informal.

humbug; nonsense.

Origin of bunk

1895–1900, Americanism; short for bunkum

SYNONYMS FOR bunk

baloney, rot, hogwash, applesauce, bull, hooey.

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR bunk ON THESAURUS.COM

bunk

[ buhngk ]

/ bʌŋk /

verb (used with or without object)

to bump.

Origin of bunk

perhaps expressive alteration of bump

bunk

⁴

[ buhngk ]

/ bʌŋk /

British Slang.

verb (used with object)

to absent oneself from: to bunk a history class.

verb (used without object)

to run off or away; flee.

Origin of bunk

⁴

First recorded in 1865–70; perhaps special use of bunk¹

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

Examples from the Web for bunk

Half of it is taken up by the bunk beds and improvised benches.
Here’s a Reform Even the Koch Brothers and George Soros Can Agree On|Tina Brown|November 10, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Barba offered me a line of cocaine as we sat on his bunk bed covered by posters of musicians and half-naked women.
Cocaine, Politicians and Wives: Inside the World’s Most Bizarre Prison|Jason Batansky|October 12, 2014|DAILY BEAST
At the prefab dorms on the American base in Kandahar, I ran into my neighbor from the bunk next door.
When I Met Robin Williams in Afghanistan|Matthew Kaminski|August 20, 2014|DAILY BEAST
We spent our days and nights with the kids at the center, sleeping on bunk beds with thin mattresses.
China Doesn't Want You to See the Internet Addiction Film 'Web Junkie'|Shosh Shlam and Hilla Medalia|August 9, 2014|DAILY BEAST

More than 40 of us crammed into each darkened bay lined with bunk beds.
How I’ll End the War: The Trip Over to Afghanistan|Nick Willard|April 23, 2014|DAILY BEAST
At the same instant a short, scrawny, red-faced man sprang from a bunk in the corner.
Riddle of the Storm|Roy J. Snell
I tried to lift myself up by the supports of the bunk, and succeeded in getting on my feet.
Dick Cheveley|W. H. G. Kingston
He glanced at the third bunk and began whistling cheerfully.
Ross Grant Tenderfoot|John Garland
"Morning," said Pierre le Rouge cheerily, and swung off the bunk to the floor.
Riders of the Silences|John Frederick
But holding to the edge of his bunk, weakened and ill though he was, the power of his will still ruled his body.
Mr. Wicker's Window|Carley Dawson

British Dictionary definitions for bunk

bunk

/ (bʌŋk) /

noun

a narrow shelflike bed fixed along a wall

short for bunk bed

informal any place where one sleeps

verb

(intr often foll by down) to prepare to sleephe bunked down on the floor

(intr) to occupy a bunk or bed

(tr) to provide with a bunk or bed

Word Origin for bunk

C19: probably short for bunker

noun

informal short for bunkum (def. 1)

noun

a hurried departure, usually under suspicious circumstances (esp in the phrase do a bunk)

verb

(usually foll by off) to play truant from (school, work, etc)

Word Origin for bunk

C19: perhaps from bunk 1 (in the sense: to occupy a bunk, hence a hurried departure, as on a ship)

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 bunk

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]

"to sleep in a bunk," 1840, originally nautical, from bunk (n.1). Related: Bunked; bunking.

bunk

noun

verb (used without object)

verb (used with object)

RELATED CONTENT

RELATED WORDS

Nearby words

Origin of bunk

bunk

noun Informal.

Origin of bunk

bunk

verb (used with or without object)

Origin of bunk

bunk

verb (used with object)

verb (used without object)

Origin of bunk

Examples from the Web for bunk

bunk

noun

verb

Word Origin for bunk

noun

noun

verb

Word Origin for bunk

bunk

bunk