junk

¹

[ juhngk ]

noun

1. any old or discarded material, as metal, paper, or rags.

   Synonyms: refuse, debris, litter, rubbish

2. anything that is regarded as worthless, meaningless, or contemptible; trash.

   Synonyms: refuse, debris, litter, rubbish

3. old cable or cordage used when untwisted for making gaskets, swabs, oakum, etc.
4. Nautical Slang. salt junk.
5. Baseball Slang. relatively slow, unorthodox pitches that are deceptive to the batter in movement or pace, as knuckleballs or forkballs.

verb (used with object)

1. to cast aside as junk; discard as no longer of use; scrap.

adjective

1. cheap, worthless, unwanted, or trashy.

junk

²

[ juhngk ]

noun

1. a seagoing ship with a traditional Chinese design and used primarily in Chinese waters, having square sails spread by battens, a high stern, and usually a flat bottom.

junk

³

[ juhngk ]

noun

, Slang.

1. narcotics, especially heroin.
2. the external genitals:

   I kicked him in the junk.

junk

¹

/ dʒʌŋk /

noun

1. a sailing vessel used in Chinese waters and characterized by a very high poop, flat bottom, and square sails supported by battens

junk

²

/ dʒʌŋk /

noun

1. discarded or secondhand objects, etc, collectively
2. informal.
   1. rubbish generally
   2. nonsense

      the play was absolute junk

3. slang.
   any narcotic drug, esp heroin

verb

1. informal.
   tr to discard as junk; scrap

Word History and Origins

Origin of junk¹

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English jonk, junk “(in sailing) old rope or cable”; further origin uncertain

Origin of junk²

First recorded in 1545–55; from Portuguese junco, from Malay jong “large boat, ship,” possibly from dialectal Chinese (Xiamen) chûn; compare Guangdong (Cantonese) dialect syùhn, (Mandarin) Chinese chuán

Origin of junk³

First recorded in 1920–25; perhaps special use of junk ¹

Word History and Origins

Origin of junk¹

C17: from Portuguese junco, from Javanese jon; related to Dutch jonk

Origin of junk²

C15 jonke old useless rope

Example Sentences

The result has been a tide of disposable, nonrecyclable plastic junk.

From Vox

They’ll junk their plan against a certain adversary and throw something completely different at them if whatever they did the first time around didn’t work.

From FiveThirtyEight

Space junk isn’t going away anytime soon—and neither are the problems it causes.

From MIT Technology Review

Given how bad the space junk problem is getting, any new solutions are more than welcome at this point.

From MIT Technology Review

Mail ballots are now postage-paid, so you won’t need to dig around your junk drawer for stamps.

From Voice of San Diego

I am not the most financially literate person (I would be hard-pressed to articulate the term “junk bond”).

From The Daily Beast

What you see is a massive, well-intentioned, legal junk pile.

From The Daily Beast

For those in the resource world, every ton of junk that goes into a landfill represents wasted energy.

From The Daily Beast

(Or as Gehry framed it in the Sketches documentary: “mak[ing] beauty with junk”).

From The Daily Beast

I am just so convinced that junk food and high sugar food are undermining the health of people…It caused a lot of strain.

From The Daily Beast

But as no junk-man came, and as no one could be found to care for its now sadly battered hulk, its good riddance became a problem.

From Project Gutenberg

We obliged them to proceed, passed close by the junk, and then landed, and continued our excursion on foot.

From Project Gutenberg

After he had married her, he'd sell out this pile of junk and let somebody else haggle with the Injuns and cowpunchers.

From Project Gutenberg

Your Caroline, so enticing five hours before in this very chamber where she frisked about like an eel, is now a junk of lead.

From Project Gutenberg

Then bit by bit, he unloaded his mind, which appeared full of little things, like a junk shop.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• clutter
• debris
• rubbish
• rubble
• trash