conkers

British

/ ˈkɒŋkəz /

noun

(functioning as singular) a game in which a player swings a horse chestnut (conker), threaded onto a string, against that of another player to try to break it

"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

Etymology

Origin of conkers

C19: from dialect conker snail shell, originally used in the game

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.

"Hopefully then, there will be conkers left to pick in a week or two's time."

From BBC • Sep. 22, 2025

More than 2,000 conkers had been prepared prior to the event.

From BBC • Oct. 13, 2024

There were fears before the event that there could be a shortage of conkers due to high winds blowing horse chestnut seeds from trees earlier in the autumn.

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

First years were playing conkers in the queue for the Black Swan Green bus.

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