boondock
/ˈbun.dɑk/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 1.78 in modern English
17
Scrabble Score
8
Letters
2
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
verb
To stay in a self-contained recreational vehicle without connections to water, electricity, or sewer services, especially in a remote location.
American usage
Example Sentences
- "We got lost out in the boondocks, miles from anywhere."
- "It was hard to respect his opinion after he'd called their humble but respectable town "a godforsaken boondock.""
- "My family has just rediscovered tiddlywinks. […] [I] haven't quite worked out the boondock!"
- "When traveling in the American Southwest, we avoid other people by boondocking in the desert."
- "The wise winker also engages in boondocking, a defensive strategy. It involves sending an opponent's winks far from the cup."
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *bunduk Tagalog bundokbor. English boondock 1910s during or around the Philippine–American War after the Spanish–American War, from Tagalog bundok (“mountain”), adopted by occupying American soldiers serving in the mountains or rural countryside of the American-occupied Philippines under the United States Military Government of the Philippine Islands. The term was reinforced or re-adopted during World War II under the U.S. military, where terms like boondockers (“shoes suited for rough terrain”) came originally in 1944 as U.S. services slang for field boots. It was later shortened to boonies by 1964 originally among U.S. troops serving in the Vietnam War in reference to the rural areas of Vietnam, as opposed to Saigon.
Word Breakdown
- Root: bundok
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈbun.dɑk/
- British English: /ˈbuːn.dɒk/
Usage
- American usage
Inflected Forms
Derived Forms
Synonyms
See: Thesaurus:remote place
boonies
the sticks
backwoods
backwater
middle of nowhere
dry camp
overland
random camping