bunker
/ˈbʌŋ.kɚ/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: 3.67 in modern English
12
Scrabble Score
6
Letters
2
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A hardened shelter, often partly buried or fully underground, designed to protect the inhabitants from falling bombs or other attacks.
noun
A compartment for storing coal for the ship's boilers; or a tank for storing fuel oil for the ship's engines.
noun
The coal compartment on a tank engine; it can also refer to that on a tender engine.
noun
Ellipsis of bunker oil (usually plural).
noun
A hazard on a golf course consisting of a sand-filled hollow.
Example Sentences
- "The military built a bunker to help evacuate the citizens safely from the bombings."
- "Among tank engines, the 0-6-2 wheel arrangement was by far the most numerous, there being nearly 450 of this arrangement, which offers the advantage of good power and adhesive weight, coupled with adequate tank and bunker capacity, within a limited compass."
- "The bunkers of these engines hold enough coal for one round journey of 120½ miles, and water is taken in each direction at Hexham."
- "The superstructure of the tender is modified by the removal of the side raves, and compartments for the fire-irons are formed on each side of the coal bunker."
- "The vessel is taking on bunkers."
- "[Letter X, page 204] At length I came within sight of them, three in number, where they sat cosily niched, into what you might call a bunker, a little sand-pit, dry and snug, and surrounded by its banks, and a screen of whins in full bloom. […] [Letter XI, page 223] And are ye in the wont of drawing up wi' all the gangrel bodies that ye meet on the high road, or find cowering in a sand-bunker upon the links?"
Etymology
The origin of the noun is uncertain; the earliest sense is sense 7.1 (“box or chest, the lid of which serves as a seat”), from Scots bunker (“bench; pew; window-seat; sand pit (especially in golf); coal receptacle; sleeping berth, bunk”), from Early Scots bunker, bunkur, bonker (“a chest or box, often serving as a seat”), probably from Old Norse bunki (“a heap”) (probably whence bunk (“sleeping berth in a ship, train, etc.”)), from Proto-Germanic *bunkô (“a heap, pile; a bump, lump, a crowd”), perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *bʰenǵʰ- (“thick”) or *bʰeg- (“to billow, swell; to arch, bend, curve (?)”). Compare Middle Low German bunge (“drum, container”), Middle High German bunge (“drum”). Sense 1 (“hardened shelter designed to protect the inhabitants from falling bombs or other attacks”) was derived from German Bunker during World War II, which was itself from bunker (“large bin or container for storing coal”) (sense 5). The verb is derived from the noun.
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈbʌŋ.kɚ/
- British English: /ˈbʌŋ.kə/
Usage
- British usage
- Slang
- Transitive verb
- Intransitive verb
- Informal
- Indian usage
- American usage