bonk

Of imitative origin. Compare English bang, bounce, bump.

• Audio (US):

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• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /bɒŋk/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /bɑŋk/, /bɔŋk/
• Rhymes: -ɒŋk

bonk (third-person singular simple present bonks, present participle bonking, simple past and past participle bonked)

1. (informal) To strike or collide with something.
2. (informal, chiefly UK, transitive, intransitive) To have sexual intercourse (with).

   Synonyms: boink, discuss Uganda, have sex; see also Thesaurus:copulate, Thesaurus:copulate with

   • 1993, Mike Leigh, Naked:

     Sophie (Katrin Cartlidge) What is a proper relationship?
     Louise (Lesley Sharp): Living with someone who talks to you after they've bonked ya.

   • 1994, Richard Curtis, Four Weddings and a Funeral, spoken by Scarlett (Charlotte Coleman):

     Because most of the blokes I fancy think l'm stupid and pointless—and, so, they just bonk me and then leave me. And the kind of blokes that do fancy me, I think are drips. I can't even be bothered to bonk them. Which does sort of leave me a bit nowhere.

   • 2022 October 10, Zoe Williams, “The Tory minister’s ‘bonking for Britain’ idea is a vile vision lurking behind cheeky Carry On imagery”, in The Guardian‎:

     But let’s not kid ourselves about bonking for Britain: this is just “the great replacement theory” with a tax code.

3. (skateboarding, snowboarding) To hit something with the front of the board, especially in midair.
4. (informal, sports) To experience sudden and severe fatigue in an endurance sports event due to glycogen depletion.

   Synonym: hit the wall

   • 2004, Gary Erickson, Lois Ann Lorentzen, Raising the Bar, Jossey-Bass, →ISBN, page 29:

     I had eaten five of my six PowerBars. I was exhausted and famished. In cycling they describe what was happening to me as bonking: my body was out of fuel and had no more energy.

• bonkbuster
• nose bonk

bonk (countable and uncountable, plural bonks)

1. (informal, countable) A bump on the head.
2. (informal, countable) Any minor collision or blow.
3. (informal, countable, chiefly UK) An act of sexual intercourse.
   • 2004, Alan Hollinghurst, chapter 2, in The Line of Beauty , 1st US edition, New York, N.Y.: Bloomsbury Publishing, →ISBN:

     “ […] It’s not like I’m just looking for a bonk, is it? This is something a bit different.” ¶ “Quite,” said Nick—though bonk was a troublingly casual way of referring to something which preoccupied him so much.

4. (informal, uncountable) A condition of sudden, severe fatigue in an endurance sports event caused by glycogen depletion.
5. (countable) An animal call resembling "bonk", such as the call of the pobblebonk.

• knob

• IPA^(key): /bɔŋk/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: bonk
• Rhymes: -ɔŋk

From Middle Dutch bonc, bonck, bunck (“bone”), from Old Dutch *bunko, from Proto-Germanic *bunkô (“pile, heap, lump”).

Cognate with West Frisian bonke (“bone”), Saterland Frisian Bunke (“bone”), German Low German Bunk (“bone”), Icelandic buna (“ox-bone”).

bonk m (plural bonken, diminutive bonkje n)

1. lump, clod
2. large, coarse man; gorilla, hulk
3. large marble (large bead used in games)

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

bonk

1. inflection of bonken:
   1. first-person singular present indicative
   2. (in case of inversion) second-person singular present indicative
   3. imperative