bunker

American  

[buhng-ker] / ˈbʌŋ kər /

noun

1. a large bin or receptacle; a fixed chest or box.

   a coal bunker.

2. a fortification set mostly below the surface of the ground with overhead protection provided by logs and earth or by concrete and fitted with openings through which guns may be fired.

3. Golf. any obstacle, as a sand trap or mound of dirt, constituting a hazard.

---

verb (used with object)

1. Nautical.

   1. to provide fuel for (a vessel).

   2. to convey (bulk cargo, except grain) from a vessel to an adjacent storehouse.

2. Golf. to hit (a ball) into a bunker.

3. to equip with or as if with bunkers.

   to bunker an army's defenses.

bunker British  

/ ˈbʌŋkə /

noun

1. a large storage container or tank, as for coal

2. Also called (esp US and Canadian): sand trap.  an obstacle on a golf course, usually a sand-filled hollow bordered by a ridge

3. an underground shelter, often of reinforced concrete and with a bank and embrasures for guns above ground

---

verb

1. (tr) golf

   1. to drive (the ball) into a bunker

   2. (passive) to have one's ball trapped in a bunker

2. (tr) nautical

   1. to fuel (a ship)

   2. to transfer (cargo) from a ship to a storehouse

Etymology

Origin of bunker

First recorded in 1750–60; earlier bonkar ( Scots ) “box, chest, serving also as a seat,” of obscure origin

Example Sentences

On a curvy dockside stretch in Key West, Fla., called Lazy Way Lane is a worn out white bunker building with no windows.

From The Wall Street Journal

In February 1963, after the bodies and bunkers were discovered, a senior army official led Red Cross personnel and media to Rezang La, finding the battlefield "exactly as it had happened, frozen in snow".

From BBC

Military actions like Maduro’s arrest and the bombing of Iran’s nuclear bunkers in June have little to no effect on pump prices and even less on the U.S. economy.

From The Wall Street Journal

The sequel—again starring Gerard Butler and Morena Baccarin—sees the clan having to leave the safety of the bunker it calls home in search of a new place to live.

From The Wall Street Journal

The children spend only half their school day in the bunkers to make room for others, finishing their classes online.

From Barron's

Related Words

• dugout
• fortification
• shelter