conk

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kɒŋk/
• IPA^(key): /kɑŋk/
• Rhymes: -ɒŋk

Etymology 1

Variant or figurative use of conch. Attested since the nineteenth century.

Alternative forms

• konk

Noun

conk (plural conks)

Bracket fungus on a fallen tree trunk

1. The shelf- or bracket-shaped fruiting body of a bracket fungus (also called a shelf fungus), i.e. a mushroom growing off a tree trunk.
2. (slang) A nose, especially a large one.
3. Alternative spelling of conch

Translations

in mycology: the shelf- or bracket-shaped fruiting body of a Bracket fungus

• Finnish: kääpä (fi)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• French: langue (fr) f

slang: a nose — see schnozzle

conch — see conch

Verb

conk (third-person singular simple present conks, present participle conking, simple past and past participle conked)

1. (slang) To hit, especially on the head.
   • 1960, P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse, chapter XVII, in Jeeves in the Offing, London: Herbert Jenkins, →OCLC:

     She came skipping to me just now, clapping her little hands and bleating about how very, very happy she was, dear Mrs Travers. The silly young geezer. I nearly conked her one with my trowel. I'd always thought her half-baked, but now I think they didn't even put her in the oven.

Related terms

• conk out

Translations

slang: to hit

• Bulgarian: удрям (bg) (udrjam)
• French: cogner (fr)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Portuguese: dar (um) cascudo

Etymology 2

From congolene, the brand name of a hair-straightening product.

Singer Nat King Cole in 1956 with his hair conked

Noun

conk (plural conks)

1. (US, dated) A hairstyle involving the chemical straightening and styling of kinky hair.

Verb

conk (third-person singular simple present conks, present participle conking, simple past and past participle conked)

1. (US, dated) To chemically straighten tightly curled hair.
   • 1957, James Baldwin, “Sonny’s Blues,” in Going to Meet the Man, Dial, 1965,^[1]

     The barbecue cook, wearing a dirty white apron, his conked hair reddish and metallic in the pale sun, and a cigarette between his lips, stood in the doorway, watching them.

Translations

to chemically straighten tightly curled hair

• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}

Etymology 3

Origin unknown. Attested since the early twentieth century.

Verb

conk (third-person singular simple present conks, present participle conking, simple past and past participle conked)

1. (colloquial, often with out) To fail or show signs of failing, cease operating, break down, become unconscious.
   • 1921, Australian Aero Clubs, Sea, Land and Air, volume 3, page 310:

     Therefore, have two or more engines, so that there is still some power left if one engine conks.

   • 1983, Walli Leff and Marilyn Haft, Time without Work, page 93:

     I watch television when it's playing, but it done conked out. Everything is conked out.

Anagrams

• Nock, nock