bunk

English

Wikipedia

Pronunciation

• enPR: bŭngk, IPA: /bʌŋk/, X-SAMPA: /bVNk/
• Rhymes: -ʌŋk

Etymology 1

Sense of sleeping berth possibly from Scottish English bunker (“seat, bench”), origin is uncertain but possibly Scandinavian. Confer Old Swedish bunke (“boards used to protect the cargo of a ship”). See also boarding, flooring and confer bunch.

Noun

bunk (plural bunks)

1. One of a series of berths or bed placed in tiers.
   • 1913, Robert Barr, chapter 6, Lord Stranleigh Abroad^[1]:

     The men resided in a huge bunk house, which consisted of one room only, with a shack outside where the cooking was done. In the large room were a dozen bunks ; half of them in a very dishevelled state, […]

2. (nautical) A built-in bed on board ship, often erected in tiers one above the other.
3. (military) A cot.
4. (US) A wooden case or box, which serves for a seat in the daytime and for a bed at night.
5. (US, dialect) A piece of wood placed on a lumberman's sled to sustain the end of heavy timbers.

Derived terms

• bunk bed, bunkbed
• bunkmate

Translations

one of a series of berth in tiers

• Finnish: punkka (fi)
• Irish: bunc (ga) m

• Japanese: 寝台 (ja) (しんだい, shindai)
• Russian: койка (ru) (kójka) f

(nautical) built-in bed on board ship

• Bulgarian: койка (bg) (kójka) f
• Finnish: punkka (fi)
• German: Koje (de) f
• Irish: bunc (ga) m
• Italian: cuccetta (it) f

• Polish: koja (pl) f
• Russian: койка (ru) (kójka) f
• Spanish: camarote (es) m
• Swedish: koj (sv) c

(military) cot

• Finnish: punkka (fi)

• Russian: койка (ru) (kójka) f

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.

Translations to be checked

• Italian: giaciglio m

• Spanish: litera f

Verb

bunk (third-person singular simple present bunks, present participle bunking, simple past and past participle bunked)

1. To occupy a bunk.
2. To provide a bunk.

Translations

to occupy a bunk

• Finnish: bunkata (fi)

to provide a bunk

• Finnish: majoittaa (fi)

Etymology 2

Shortened from bunkum, a variant of buncombe.

Noun

bunk (uncountable)

1. (slang) Bunkum; senseless talk, nonsense.

Synonyms

• See also Wikisaurus:nonsense

Derived terms

• debunk

Translations

nonsense

• Bulgarian: глупости (bg) (gluposti) pl, дрънканици (bg) (drǎnkanici) pl

• Finnish: soopa (fi)

Etymology 3

Verb

bunk (third-person singular simple present bunks, present participle bunking, simple past and past participle bunked)

1. (UK) To fail to attend school without permission; to play truant (usually as in 'to bunk off').
2. (obsolete) To expel from a school.

Translations

to fail to attend school without permission

• Bulgarian: бягам от училище (bg) (bjagam ot učilište)

• Finnish: lintsata (fi)

References

• “bunk” in Douglas Harper, Online Etymology Dictionary (2001).
• Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary, Springfield, Massachusetts, G.&C. Merriam Co., 1967
• bunk in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913