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

They’d given up on the greater good and retreated to their own bunkers, leaving the rest of us to burn.

From ProPublica

For example, advanced bio-fuels cost 600% more than the bunker fuel that cargo ships run on.

From 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.

From Washington Post

Lawmakers barricaded themselves inside offices, bunkers and laid on the floors of the House and Senate.

From Time

The unmarked offices sprinkled around the building where backroom deals are typically made became makeshift bunkers.

From Time

Whatever the reason, Burton was committed enough to leave tiny Bunker Hill to seek out her beau.

From The Daily Beast

Bunker, along with his brothers Herbert and Lamar, started buying silver in 1970, when it was $1.94 an ounce.

From The Daily Beast

Nelson Bunker Hunt, who died this week, made and lost billions of dollars.

From The Daily Beast

You feel like you need to bunker up, hide away, and arm yourself.

From The Daily Beast

The bunker, so crucial during the final years of the Cold War in the Baltic, was only declassified in 2003.

From The Daily Beast

Corner stone of Bunker hill monument laid with great and enthusiastic ceremonies; Lafayette being present.

From Project Gutenberg

Well, we couldn't even think Bunker Hill but what she'd pipe up about the Alamo.

From Project Gutenberg

The door in this bunker had been dropped probably when water was first discovered, which was a few minutes after the collision.

From Project Gutenberg

There was another water-tight door at the after end of the water-tight passage through the bunker immediately aft of D bulkhead.

From Project Gutenberg

Holding the transmitter tightly Hendricks called the code of the command bunker.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• dugout
• fortification
• shelter