chunder
/ˈtʃandə/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 1.88 in modern English
13
Scrabble Score
7
Letters
2
Syllables
7
Unique Chars
Meaning
verb
To throw up, to vomit, particularly from excessive alcohol consumption.
Australian usage; New Zealand usage; British usage; Slang
verb
Of a motor vehicle: to rumble loudly, to roar.
Example Sentences
- "I had puke streamers hanging from both nostrils; it wasn′t as watery as my chunder usually is (from drinking)."
- "I would guess it points up the difference between the involuntary chunder where you cannot choose the time place or direction, and the self-induced chunder which facilitates further consumption of alcohol after your theoretical limit is reached."
- "I come from a land down under / Where beer does flow and men chunder / Can't you hear, can't you hear the thunder? / You better run, you better take cover"
- "2008, Isabelle Young, Tony Gherardin, Central and South America, Lonely Planet, page 70, There are plenty of winding roads, diesel fumes, crowded public transport and various less than sweet odours to get you chundering when you′re on the move in this part of the world, so take a good supply of motion sickness remedies if you know you′re susceptible to this."
- "“You might have chundered,” said Kate, laughing, “but at least you didn′t get any on yourself—sign of a true lady.”"
- "Pretty soon just about everyone onboard was leaning over the rail chundering like sick dogs."
Etymology
Unknown and debated origin. Possibly a shortening of Chunder Loo, itself a presumed rhyming slang for spew (said to be derived from the cartoon character “Chunder Loo of Akim Foo”, drawn by Norman Lindsay for a series of boot-polish advertisements in the early 1900s), but the rhyming slang usage is not actually recorded. Alternatively, possibly from the nautical phrase "*Watch under!" ("Look out below!"), used to warn people on lower decks that someone above was vomiting over the side of the ship, though this is likewise unsubstantiated and may simply be due to folk etymology. Also possibly from tunder, a dialectal pronunciation of thunder; or borrowed from Scots *junder, junner, chunner (“to bump, knock against", also "to break or spill the contents of”), a frequentative form of jund, chund, jundie (“to jog, jostle, annoy, upset”). First attested in c. 1950.
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: *junder
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈtʃandə/
- British English: /ˈtʃʌndə(ɹ)/