plunk

See also: Plunk

English

Etymology

Onomatopoeic. Compare plonk and flump.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /plʌŋk/

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ʌŋk

Verb

plunk (third-person singular simple present plunks, present participle plunking, simple past and past participle plunked)

1. (transitive) To drop or throw something heavily onto or into something else, so that it makes a dull sound.

   Synonyms: flump, thud

   Enrique plunked his money down on the counter with a sigh and bellied up to the bar.

2. (intransitive) To land suddenly or heavily; to plump down.
3. (transitive, baseball) To intentionally hit the batter with a pitch.

   The Braves retaliated by plunking Harper in the next inning.

4. (intransitive, of a raven) To croak.
5. (transitive, music) To pluck and quickly release (a musical string).

   Synonym: twang

   • 2011, Dave Eggers, Guillermo del Toro, The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2011, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, →ISBN, page 452:

     Your bass teacher loathed you for loathing the instrument. Every lesson was the same: You would plunk out a few notes, and he would stop you. “Did you practice ?" “Some," you would say. “You have to practice." “I know." Practicing was the most boring thing you had ever done. Plunk plunk plunk (rest). Plunk plunk plunk (rest). That was pretty much how the double bass part went in every piece of music your teacher assigned you.

6. (transitive, intransitive, Scotland) To be a truant from (school).

Noun

plunk (plural plunks)

1. The dull thud of something landing on a surface.
2. (slang, obsolete) A large sum of money.
3. (slang, obsolete, US) A dollar.

Derived terms

• kerplunk