bunker

[ buhng-ker ]

/ ˈbʌŋ kər /

Save This Word!

See synonyms for bunker on Thesaurus.com

noun

a large bin or receptacle; a fixed chest or box: a coal bunker.

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.

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

verb (used with object)

Nautical.

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

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

to equip with or as if with bunkers: to bunker an army's defenses.

QUIZ

THINGAMABOB OR THINGUMMY: CAN YOU DISTINGUISH BETWEEN THE US AND UK TERMS IN THIS QUIZ?

Do you know the difference between everyday US and UK terminology? Test yourself with this quiz on words that differ across the Atlantic.

Question 1 of 7

In the UK, COTTON CANDY is more commonly known as…

candystring

candyfloss

candypuff

TAKE THE QUIZ TO FIND OUT

Origin of bunker

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

Words nearby bunker

Bunin, bunion, bunionette, bunk, bunk bed, bunker, bunkerage, Bunker, Archie, bunker buster, Bunker Hill, Bunker Hill, Battle of

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use bunker in a sentence

They’d given up on the greater good and retreated to their own bunkers, leaving the rest of us to burn.
The Climate Crisis Is Worse Than You Can Imagine. Here’s What Happens If You Try.|by Elizabeth Weil|January 25, 2021|ProPublica
For example, advanced bio-fuels cost 600% more than the bunker fuel that cargo ships run on.
Bill Gates: Here's a Formula That Explains Where We Need to Invest in Climate Innovation|Bill Gates|January 22, 2021|Time
He’ll get a bunker dug out beneath Mar-a-Lago, and he’ll be hurried down there by tight-lipped men in suits every time there’s a thunderstorm.
Gene Weingarten: It ain’t over until the fat man sings|Gene Weingarten|January 14, 2021|Washington Post
Lawmakers barricaded themselves inside offices, bunkers and laid on the floors of the House and Senate.
This Time, Impeachment Seems to Be a No-Brainer for Democrats|Philip Elliott|January 12, 2021|Time

The unmarked offices sprinkled around the building where backroom deals are typically made became makeshift bunkers.
The Breach of the Capitol Spooked Us — As It Should Have|Philip Elliott|January 7, 2021|Time
Whatever the reason, Burton was committed enough to leave tiny Bunker Hill to seek out her beau.
Mrs. Manson, Hometown Antihero|Justin Glawe|November 24, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Bunker, along with his brothers Herbert and Lamar, started buying silver in 1970, when it was $1.94 an ounce.
The Zillionaires Who Lost Everything|Tom Sykes|October 26, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Nelson Bunker Hunt, who died this week, made and lost billions of dollars.
The Zillionaires Who Lost Everything|Tom Sykes|October 26, 2014|DAILY BEAST
You feel like you need to bunker up, hide away, and arm yourself.
David Oyelowo on Playing Martin Luther King Jr., Ebola Fears, and Race in Hollywood|Marlow Stern|October 15, 2014|DAILY BEAST
The bunker, so crucial during the final years of the Cold War in the Baltic, was only declassified in 2003.
The Secret Soviet Power Bunker—in Latvia, a Hiding Place for the Elite|Brandon Presser|September 25, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Corner stone of Bunker hill monument laid with great and enthusiastic ceremonies; Lafayette being present.
The Every Day Book of History and Chronology|Joel Munsell
Well, we couldn't even think Bunker Hill but what she'd pipe up about the Alamo.
The Sunbridge Girls at Six Star Ranch|Eleanor H. (Eleanor Hodgman) Porter
The door in this bunker had been dropped probably when water was first discovered, which was a few minutes after the collision.
Loss of the Steamship 'Titanic'|British Government
There was another water-tight door at the after end of the water-tight passage through the bunker immediately aft of D bulkhead.
Loss of the Steamship 'Titanic'|British Government
Holding the transmitter tightly Hendricks called the code of the command bunker.
Second Variety|Philip Kindred Dick

British Dictionary definitions for bunker

bunker

/ (ˈbʌŋkə) /

noun

a large storage container or tank, as for coal

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

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

verb

(tr) golf

to drive (the ball) into a bunker
(passive) to have one's ball trapped in a bunker

(tr) nautical

to fuel (a ship)
to transfer (cargo) from a ship to a storehouse

Word Origin for bunker

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

bunker

Origin of bunker

Words nearby bunker

Words related to bunker

How to use bunker in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for bunker

Word Origin for bunker