chunk

¹ American  

[chuhngk] / tʃʌŋk /

noun

1. a thick mass or lump of anything.

   a chunk of bread;

   a chunk of firewood.

   Synonyms:

   gob, wad, piece, hunk

2. Informal. a thick-set and strong person.

3. a strong and stoutly built horse or other animal.

4. a substantial amount of something.

   Rent is a real chunk out of my pay.

---

verb (used with object)

1. to cut, break, or form into chunks.

   Chunk that wedge of cheese and put the pieces on a plate.

2. to remove a chunk or chunks from (often followed byout ).

   Storms have chunked out the road.

verb (used without object)

1. to form, give off, or disintegrate into chunks.

   My tires have started to chunk.

idioms

1. blow chunks, to vomit.

chunk ² American  

[chuhngk] / tʃʌŋk /

verb (used with object)

South Midland and Southern U.S.

1. to toss or throw; chuck.

   chunking pebbles at the barn door.

2. to make or rekindle (a fire) by adding wood, coal, etc., or by stoking (sometimes followed byup ).

---

chunk British  

/ tʃʌŋk /

noun

1. a thick solid piece, as of meat, wood, etc

2. a considerable amount

---

Etymology

Origin of chunk¹

First recorded in 1685–95; nasalized variant of chuck ²

Origin of chunk²

An Americanism dating back to 1825–35; perhaps nasalized variant of chuck ¹

Example Sentences

The humble bag with peas, carrots, corn, and those tiny, anonymous green bean chunks.

From Salon

Took my satellite dish, a bit of my rudder, and a chunk of my forehead.

From Literature

They were missing leader Marie-Philip Poulin in their opening loss to the U.S., and the U.S. can turn flat, like they did in a sleepy second-period chunk of the semi against Sweden.

From The Wall Street Journal

You have more than $6.25 million saved, so you could easily take a chunk of that to pay off the rest of your home.

From MarketWatch

With the weight of the world on his shoulders, the Portuguese striker scored a first ever career hat-trick and heaved a chunk of momentum back behind Rangers in the title charge.

From BBC

Related Words

• block
• dollop
• hunk
• lump
• piece
• portion
• wad