conker
Americannoun
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conkers
plural
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a horse chestnut.
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the hollowed-out shell of a horse chestnut.
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conkers, a game in which a child swings a horse chestnut on a string in an attempt to break that of another player.
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of conker
1840–50; probably originally conquer; compare conquering a game played with snail shells (the name of the game presumably later transferred to the playing pieces)
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
The single combat involves swinging a conker -- a hardened horse chestnut -- on a string at your opponent's nut with murderous venom, until one is smashed to pieces.
From Barron's ● Oct. 17, 2025
And they were needed, with one man disqualified for trying to smuggle a non-conforming conker in.
From Barron's ● Oct. 17, 2025
He added: "Yes, he had a steel conker with him, which we're aware of... it's very obvious it's not a real one."
From BBC ● Oct. 15, 2024
The championship, which raises money for charities, culminates with the crowning of winners dubbed the conker king and queen.
From BBC ● Oct. 8, 2023
The breeze lullabied the conker tree and the conker tree lullabied me.
From "Black Swan Green" by David Mitchell
"Hopefully then, there will be conkers left to pick in a week or two's time."
From BBC ● Sep. 22, 2025
The event saw participants go head-to-head using conkers threaded on to string to try and smash their opponent's nut.
From BBC ● Oct. 13, 2024
More than 2,000 conkers had been prepared prior to the event.
From BBC ● Oct. 13, 2024
A mature horse chestnut, it is festooned with glorious blooms every spring, and after a few weeks sheds hundreds of partially grown, supernumerary conkers, encased in spiky green coverings.
From Seattle Times ● May 24, 2024
But at least the conkers was something to watch.
From "Black Swan Green" by David Mitchell
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
