bunker

[buhng-ker]

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.

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

/ 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

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of bunker¹

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of bunker¹

C16 (in the sense: chest, box): from Scottish bonkar , of unknown origin

Example Sentences

Not surprisingly, increasingly fewer fans want to devote their Saturdays to cheering for a team that too often finds itself plopping into a Brookside bunker.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

"When these bubbles burst, they destroy the barrier surrounding the pancreatic cancer -- which is a bit like a bunker -- allowing the mRNA vaccine to penetrate the tumour."

Read more on Barron's

While inspecting the bunker, Colonel Roswell P Rosengren of the US army saw an opportunity to get a unique war trophy and he pocketed the fabric.

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An MP said the approach was "utterly unhinged and self-destructive," adding: "They're in the bunker shooting everyone who's outside the bunker guarding it. And poor oblivious Keir doesn't even realise he's in the bunker."

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Critics say it is evidence that Downing Street is "in full bunker mode" which "won't help the government out of the hole we're in."

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Related Words

• dugout 
• fortification 
• shelter