bunk1
- 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.
- Informal. to occupy a bunk or any sleeping quarters: Joe and Bill bunked together at camp.
- to provide with a place to sleep.
Origin of bunk1
bunk2
- humbug; nonsense.
Origin of bunk2
Synonyms
See more synonyms for bunk on Thesaurus.combunk3
- to bump.
Origin of bunk3
bunk4
- to absent oneself from: to bunk a history class.
- to run off or away; flee.
- do a bunk, to leave hastily, especially under suspicious circumstances; run away.
Origin of bunk4
Examples from the Web for bunk
Contemporary Examples
Half of it is taken up by the bunk beds and improvised benches.
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 PrisonJason Batansky
October 12, 2014
At the prefab dorms on the American base in Kandahar, I ran into my neighbor from the bunk next door.
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
More than 40 of us crammed into each darkened bay lined with bunk beds.
Historical Examples
It was several weeks before I was allowed even to quit my bunk.
Ned MyersJames Fenimore Cooper
Leonard rubbed the stuff on his side and turned into his bunk.
The Cruise of the Dry DockT. S. Stribling
Caradoc lifted his head from the bunk and blinked at the two men in the door.
The Cruise of the Dry DockT. S. Stribling
I was shown his bunk below, and there I found I had guessed right.
The HarborErnest Poole
She don't sail for an hour or two and I'll be asleep in my bunk long before.
The HarborErnest Poole
bunk1
- a narrow shelflike bed fixed along a wall
- short for bunk bed
- informal any place where one sleeps
- (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
bunk2
- informal short for bunkum (def. 1)
bunk3
- a hurried departure, usually under suspicious circumstances (esp in the phrase do a bunk)
- (usually foll by off) to play truant from (school, work, etc)
Word Origin
Word Origin and History for bunk
n.1
"sleeping berth," 1758, probably a shortened form of bunker (n.) in its sense "seat." Bunk-bed (n.) attested by 1869.
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]
v.
"to sleep in a bunk," 1840, originally nautical, from bunk (n.1). Related: Bunked; bunking.