plonk

See also: PLONK

English

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /plɒŋk/
• (US) enPR: plänk, IPA^(key): /plɑŋk/

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɒŋk

Etymology 1

Onomatopoeic. Compare plunk.

Interjection

plonk

1. The sound made by something solid landing.
2. (Internet) The supposed sound of adding a user to one's killfile.

Noun

plonk (plural plonks)

1. (countable) The sound of something solid landing.

   I just heard a plonk – did something fall down in the kitchen?

Verb

plonk (third-person singular simple present plonks, present participle plonking, simple past and past participle plonked)

1. (transitive) To set or toss (something) down carelessly.

   When you’ve finished with the sponge, just plonk it back in the sink.

   • 2004, David Mitchell, Cloud Atlas, London: Hodder and Stoughton, →ISBN:

     We sat alfresco on the edge of a “square,” in reality a pond of cobbly mud with a plinth plonked in its navel […]

2. (reflexive) To sit down heavily and without ceremony.
   • 2020 December 2, Paul Bigland, “My weirdest and wackiest Rover yet”, in Rail, page 67:

     Changing trains at Hereford, I catch the West Midlands Class 170 that is waiting for me at Platform 1. Plonking myself in a table bay, I settle in to enjoy the trip on what is another quiet train - well, until Ledbury, where a couple of dozen people are waiting.

3. (transitive, Internet slang) To automatically ignore a particular poster.

   Synonym: killfile

   I got tired of his trolling and ad hominem attacks, so I plonked him.

Derived terms

• plonker

Translations

To set or toss carelessly

• German: hinwerfen (de), hinschmeißen (de)
• Russian: плю́хать (ru) impf (pljúxatʹ), плю́хнуть (ru) pf (pljúxnutʹ)

To sit down heavily and without ceremony

• German: hinfläzen
• Russian: плю́хаться (ru) impf (pljúxatʹsja), плю́хнуться (ru) pf (pljúxnutʹsja)

Adverb

plonk (not comparable)

1. (followed by a location) Precisely and forcefully.

   He dropped his bag of tools plonk in the middle of the table.

Synonyms

• bang
• slap bang

Derived terms

• plonker

Etymology 2

From WWI military slang, derived by alteration of French vin blanc (“white wine”) by the law of Hobson-Jobson. Recorded earliest in the playful rhyming slang form plinketty-plonk. Possibly influenced by the sound of wine being poured into a glass.

Noun

plonk (uncountable)

2. (uncountable, UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, informal) Cheap or inferior everyday wine.
   • 1998, Pierre Spahni, Swiss Wine Market Report, page 95:

     The third category of wines is highly unattractive as these may only be sold as generic wines (white, red or rosé), without reference to any geographical location. Only surplus plonk and cooking wine would aspire to fall in this segment, which can be blended with any other wine - to any extent.

   • 2003, Joan del Monte, Plonk Goes the Weasel, page 201:

     Diesel took a large swallow out of the glass of red wine. He spluttered, choked, and spilled wine down one leg of his fawn colored pants. “My God,” he gasped, when he could speak. “What is that crap?”
     “Why cheap red wine,” Ford displayed the label. “You know. Plonk.”

   • 2011, Charles Spence, Maya U. Shankar, Heston Blumenthal, Chapter 11: ‘Sound Bites’: Auditory Contributions to the Perceeption and Consumption of Food and Drink, Francesca Bacci, David Melcher (editors), Art and the Senses, page 229,

     Given the results reported in this chapter, one obvious solution to the ‘plonk paradox’ (why cheap wine tastes good on holiday but terrible at home) would be to try and recapture some of these sensory impressions in one′s own living room, in order to enhance the flavour/pleasantness of the wine-drinking experience (and turn that horrible tasting wine into something that tastes really rather nice), and to elucidate the respective contributions of contextual effects on hedonic ratings.

3. (military, slang, historical) AC Plonk

Translations

cheap or inferior wine

• Czech: krabicák m, patok (cs) m
• Dutch: bocht (nl) m or n, slobberwijn m, hoofdpijnwijn m
• French: pinard (fr) m, jaja (fr) m, vinasse (fr) f
• Hungarian: lőre (hu)
• Polish: sikacz (pl) m
• Portuguese: zurrapa (pt)
• Russian: бормоту́ха (ru) f (bormotúxa), шмурдя́к (ru) m (šmurdják)
• Spanish: vino peleón m

Etymology 3

Probably a shortening of plonker.

Noun

plonk (plural plonks)

1. (countable, derogatory, UK, Ireland, law enforcement slang) A female police constable. [in the 1970s]

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:police officer

   Chris and that plonk had better be flushing the scum out.