chunk

¹

[chuhngk]

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.

chunk

²

[chuhngk]

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

/ tʃʌŋk /

noun

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

2. a considerable amount

Word History and Origins

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of chunk¹

C17: variant of _chuck ²

Idioms and Phrases

Idioms

1. blow chunks, to vomit.

Example Sentences

On the following Tuesday they returned to it and found that the pigs had bitten off large chunks of flesh on the women.

Read more on BBC

After its first 50 passes, the AI model figured out that it ought to put spaces between chunks of letters.

Read more on Wall Street Journal

Their injury room could fill out a good chunk of a Pro Bowl roster—and that was before Jackson went down.

Read more on Wall Street Journal

One metric is called the “internal rate of return,” which reflects returns on chunks of investor money as they go in and out of the fund.

Read more on Wall Street Journal

Project 2025 calls for Title I to be delivered to states as block grants, or chunks of money with few restrictions.

Read more on Salon

Related Words

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