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chunk

1
[chuhngk]
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noun
  1. a thick mass or lump of anything: a chunk of bread; a chunk of firewood.
  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.
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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 by out): Storms have chunked out the road.
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verb (used without object)
  1. to form, give off, or disintegrate into chunks: My tires have started to chunk.
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Origin of chunk

1
First recorded in 1685–95; nasalized variant of chuck2

Synonyms for chunk

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1. hunk, piece, wad, gob.

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 by up).
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Origin of chunk

2
1825–35, Americanism; perhaps nasalized variant of chuck1
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words for chunking

lob, plunge, nudge, shove, propel, heave, sling, dig, punch, lunge, smack, poke, stab, stick, interject, elbow, jab, sink, fire, fling

Examples from the Web for chunking

Historical Examples of chunking

  • The chunking of the screw affected me also, but I seemed to relate it to a former and pleasing experience.

    Wounds in the rain

    Stephen Crane

British Dictionary definitions for chunking

chunking

noun
  1. psychol the grouping together of a number of items by the mind, after which they can be remembered as a single item, such as a word or a musical phrase
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chunk

noun
  1. a thick solid piece, as of meat, wood, etc
  2. a considerable amount
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Word Origin for chunk

C17: variant of chuck ²
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

Word Origin and History for chunking

chunk

n.

"thick block" of something, 1690s, probably a nasalized variant of chuck (n.1) "cut of meat;" meaning "large amount" is 1883, American English.

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chunk

v.

"to throw," 1835, American English, from chunk (n.) or by similar mutation from chuck (v.1). Related: Chunked; chunking.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper