prang

See also: prång, and Prăng

English

Etymology 1

Originally WWII RAF slang; probably imitative.

Pronunciation

• enPR: prăng, IPA^(key): /pɹæŋ/

• Audio (AU):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -æŋ

Noun

prang (countable and uncountable, plural prangs)

1. (slang, dated) An aeroplane crash.
   • 2011, Bill Marsh, Great South Australia Stories, HarperCollins Publishers, Australia, unnumbered page,

     I remember when a call came through that a crop sprayer had had a plane prang down at Naracoorte, in the south-east of South Australia.

2. (dated, military slang) A bombing raid.
3. (chiefly Australia and New Zealand, UK, informal) An accident involving a motor vehicle, typically minor and without casualties.
   • 1984, Ian Manning, Beyond walking distance: The Gains from Speed in Australian Urban Travel, page 105,

     The typical prang cost a few hundred dollars in panelbeating charges.

   • 1999, Lydia Laube, Bound for Vietnam, page 209,

     If people drove like that in Australia there would be constant prangs.

   • 2009, Bridget Griffen-Foley, Changing Stations: The Story of Australian Commercial Radio, page 90,

     The drive host, Mark Day, recalls the sinking feeling as he covered an accident on the Tullamarine expressway and wondered what commuters in Sydney would think about hearing all the details of the prang.

4. (US, slang, uncountable) Crack cocaine.

Synonyms

• (minor accident involving a motor vehicle): bingle (Australia), collision, crash, fender-bender (US)

Verb

prang (third-person singular simple present prangs, present participle pranging, simple past and past participle pranged)

1. (slang, dated) To crash an aeroplane.
   • 1946, Frank Clune, Song of India, page 332,

     “We have to wear good socks and boots,” said one pilot with a grin, “—as we often prang in the jungle, and have to walk home.”

2. (intransitive, chiefly Australia and New Zealand, UK, informal) To crash; to have an accident while controlling a vehicle.
   • 1958, Nation, Issues 1-33, page 56,

     “Didn′t bump nobody,” I sneer.

     “That′s because you were careful,” says the wife. “Your forecast doesn′t say you will prang. It merely says ‘exercise care today,’ which you did.”

3. (transitive, chiefly Australia and New Zealand, UK, informal) To damage (the vehicle one is driving) in an accident; to have a minor collision with (another motor vehicle).
   • 2004, John Pym (editor), Time Out Film Guide, page 70,

     Soon after rescuing some silly children from the local caves, the alien prangs his vessel and dies.

   • 2005, Thomas Marshall, Our Summer in Australia And New Zealand, page 93,

     On Friday, I picked up our camper van, upgraded to a four sleeper so Elysee and I could each find a neutral corner, which I managed to “prang,” navigating the parking lot, within one hour of signing away my house as security.

Derived terms

• pranged

Central Prang of Angkor Wat in Siem Reap, Cambodia

A prang (temple with spire) in Bangkok, Thailand

Etymology 2

From Khmer(ប្រាង្គ).

Pronunciation

• enPR: prăng, IPA^(key): /pɹæŋ/
• Rhymes: -æŋ

Noun

prang (plural prangs)

1. (architecture) A type of tower or spire featured in some Buddhist temples of Cambodia and Thailand.
   • 1995, Joshua Eliot, Thailand and Burma Handbook 1996, page 216,

     The prang is surrounded by walls, which are in turn surrounded by smaller prangs and chedis, some of which are rather precariously supported.

   • 2001, Paul Gray, Lucy Ridout, The Rough Guide to Bangkok, page 119,

     The second platform surrounds the base of the prang proper, whose closed entranceways are guarded by four statues of the Hindu god Indra on his three-headed elephant Erawan.

Anagrams

• pgRNA, pgrna

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German

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

Verb

prang

1. imperative singular of prangen
2. (colloquial) first-person singular present of prangen

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Malay

Alternative forms

• perang

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pəraŋ/, /praŋ/
• Rhymes: -əraŋ, -raŋ, -aŋ

Noun

prang

1. Misspelling of perang.