bunker

See also: Bunker and búnker

English

WOTD – 17 June 2022

Pronunciation

  • (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈbʌŋk.əː/
  • (General American) IPA(key): /ˈbʌŋk.ɚ/
  • (file)
  • Rhymes: -ʌŋkə(ɹ)
  • Hyphenation: bunk‧er

Etymology 1

A World-War-II-era single-person bunker (noun sense 1) in Munich, Bavaria, Germany.
A tank locomotive at Llandudno Junction, Wales, UK, with the bunker (noun sense 3) at the head of the train.
A bunker (sense 4.1) on a golf course.

The origin of the noun is uncertain;[1] the earliest sense is sense 6.1 (“box or chest, the lid of which serves as a seat”), from Scots bunker (bench; pew; window-seat; sand pit (especially in golf); coal receptacle; sleeping berth, bunk), probably from Old Norse bunki (a heap) (probably whence bunk (sleeping berth in a ship, train, etc.)),[2][3] from Proto-Germanic *bunkô (a heap, pile; a bump, lump, a crowd), perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *bʰenǵʰ- (thick) or *bʰeg- (to billow, swell; to arch, bend, curve (?)). Sense 1 (“hardened shelter designed to protect the inhabitants from falling bombs or other attacks”) was derived from German Bunker during World War II, which was itself from bunker (large bin or container for storing coal) (sense 5).

The verb is derived from the noun.[4]

Noun

bunker (plural bunkers)

  1. (military) A hardened shelter, often partly buried or fully underground, designed to protect the inhabitants from falling bombs or other attacks.
  2. (nautical) A container for storing coal or fuel oil for a ship's engine; (by extension) the quantity of fuel needed to replenish that container.
  3. (rail transport) The coal compartment on a tank engine.
    • 1939 September, D. S. Barrie, “The Railways of South Wales”, in The Railway Magazine, Westminster, London: IPC Transport Press, ISSN 0033-8923, OCLC 1065264231, page 161:
      Among tank engines, the 0-6-2 wheel arrangement was by far the most numerous, there being nearly 450 of this arrangement, which offers the advantage of good power and adhesive weight, coupled with adequate tank and bunker capacity, within a limited compass.
    • 1941 December, “Notes and News: A Tank Engine's 241-mile Day”, in Railway Magazine, page 569:
      The bunkers of these engines hold enough coal for one round journey of 120½ miles, and water is taken in each direction at Hexham.
  4. (sports)
    1. (golf) A hazard on a golf course consisting of a sand-filled hollow.
      • 1824 June, [Walter Scott], “Letter X. Darsie Latimer to Alan Fairford.”; “Letter XI. The Same to the Same.”, in Redgauntlet, [], volume I, Edinburgh: [] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co., OCLC 926803915, pages 204 and 223:
        [Letter X, page 204] At length I came within sight of them, three in number, where they sat cosily niched, into what you might call a bunker, a little sand-pit, dry and snug, and surrounded by its banks, and a screen of whins in full bloom. [] [Letter XI, page 223] And are ye in the wont of drawing up wi' all the gangrel bodies that ye meet on the high road, or find cowering in a sand-bunker upon the links?
        Used to refer to a sand-filled hollow in general.
    2. (paintball) An obstacle used to block an opposing player's view and field of fire.
  5. (Britain, chiefly historical) A large bin or container for storing coal, often built outdoors in the yard of a house.
  6. (Scotland)
    1. A sort of box or chest, as in a window, the lid of which serves as a seat.
    2. (slang) A kitchen worktop.
Derived terms
Descendants
  • Catalan: búnquer
  • German: Bunker
Translations

Verb

bunker (third-person singular simple present bunkers, present participle bunkering, simple past and past participle bunkered)

The Dutch cruise ship MS Prinsendam being bunkered (verb sense 2.2) or refuelled by the bunker barge Mozart in the Port of Zeebrugge in Bruges, West Flanders, Belgium.
  1. (transitive)
    1. (nautical)
      1. To load (a vessel) with coal or fuel oil for the engine.
      2. (Nigeria) To steal bunker fuel by illicitly siphoning it off.
    2. (sports)
      1. (golf) To hit (a golf ball) into a bunker; (chiefly passive) to place (a golfer) in the position of having a golf ball in a bunker.
        1. (by extension, Britain, informal) To place (someone) in a position that is difficult to get out of; to hinder.
      2. (paintball) To fire constantly at (an opponent hiding behind an obstacle), trapping them and preventing them from firing at other players; also, to eliminate (an opponent behind an obstacle) by rushing to the position and firing at extremely close range as the player becomes exposed.
  2. (intransitive)
    1. Often followed by down: to take shelter in a bunker or other place.
    2. (nautical) Of a vessel: to take a load of coal or fuel oil for its engine.
Derived terms
Translations

Etymology 2

From bunk (to fail to attend school or work without permission, to play truant) + -er (suffix forming agent nouns indicating a person or thing that does an action).

Noun

bunker (plural bunkers)

  1. (Britain, slang) One who bunks off; a truant from school.
Translations

Etymology 3

An Atlantic menhaden (Brevoortia tyrannus), sometimes called a bunker.

Clipping of mossbunker,[5] a variant of mossbanker, from Dutch marsbanker (common scad or Atlantic horse mackerel (Trachurus trachurus)), from Marsdiep (deep tide-race between Den Helder and Texel in the Netherlands) + bank (shallow part of the sea near a coast) + -er (suffix forming nouns denoting male inhabitants of a place).

Noun

bunker (plural bunkers)

  1. (US, regional) The menhaden, any of several species of fish in the genera Brevoortia and Ethmidium.
Translations

References

  1. bunker, n.1”, in OED Online , Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, September 2021.
  2. bunker, n.”, in The Dictionary of the Scots Language, Edinburgh: Scottish Language Dictionaries, 2004–present, OCLC 57069714, reproduced from W[illiam] Grant and D[avid] D. Murison, editors, The Scottish National Dictionary, Edinburgh: Scottish National Dictionary Association, 1931–1976, →OCLC.
  3. bunker, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
  4. bunker, v.”, in OED Online , Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, March 2020; bunker, v.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
  5. bunker, n.2”, in OED Online , Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, March 2018.

Further reading

Anagrams


Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from English bunker.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈbʏŋ.kər/
  • (file)
  • Hyphenation: bun‧ker
  • Rhymes: -ʏŋkər

Noun

bunker m (plural bunkers, diminutive bunkertje n)

  1. bunker (low-lying fortification built into the landscape)
    Synonym: kazemat
  2. (golf) bunker (hole with a surface of sand or dirt, placed on a golf course as a barrier)
  3. bunker, cargo hold, storage room

Derived terms

Descendants


French

Etymology 1

Borrowed from German Bunker.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /buŋ.kɛʁ/, /buŋ.kœʁ/

Noun

bunker m (plural bunkers)

  1. (military) bunker

Etymology 2

Borrowed from English bunker.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /bœŋ.kœʁ/

Noun

bunker m (plural bunkers)

  1. (golf) bunker

Further reading


Indonesian

Etymology

From Dutch bunker, from English bunker, from German Bunker.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): [ˈbʊŋkər]
  • Hyphenation: bung‧kêr

Noun

bunkêr (plural bunker-bunker, first-person possessive bunkerku, second-person possessive bunkermu, third-person possessive bunkernya)

  1. bunker
    1. (military) a hardened shelter, often buried partly or fully underground, designed to protect the inhabitants from falling bombs or other attacks.
    2. (nautical) a container for storing coal or fuel oil for a ship's engine.

Alternative forms

Further reading


Norwegian Bokmål

Noun

bunker m

  1. indefinite plural of bunke

Etymology 2

From English bunker.

Noun

bunker m (definite singular bunkeren, indefinite plural bunkere, definite plural bunkerne)

  1. bunker (storage for fuel on a ship)
  2. bunker (reinforced shelter)
  3. bunker (on a golf course)
Derived terms
  • bunkers (fuel oil, military bunker)

References


Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

From English bunker.

Noun

bunker m (definite singular bunkeren, indefinite plural bunkerar, definite plural bunkerane)

  1. bunker (storage for fuel on a ship)
  2. bunker (reinforced shelter)
  3. bunker (on a golf course)

Derived terms

  • bunkers (fuel oil, militsry bunker)

References


Portuguese

Alternative forms

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English bunker.[1][2]

Pronunciation

  • (Portugal) IPA(key): /ˈbɐ̃.kaɾ/, /ˈbũ.kɛɾ/, /ˈbũ.kaɾ/

Noun

bunker m (plural bunkers)

  1. (military) bunker (shelter)

References

  1. bunker” in Dicionário infopédia da Língua Portuguesa. Porto: Porto Editora, 2003–2023.
  2. bunker” in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa.

Serbo-Croatian

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /bǔnker/
  • Hyphenation: bun‧ker

Noun

bùnker m (Cyrillic spelling бу̀нкер)

  1. bunker (hardened shelter)
  2. bunker (container for storing coal or fuel oil for a ship's engine)

Declension


Spanish

Noun

bunker m (plural bunkers)

  1. bunker

Swedish

Etymology

From English bunker.

Noun

bunker c

  1. bunker (type of shelter)

Declension

Declension of bunker 
Singular Plural
Indefinite Definite Indefinite Definite
Nominative bunker bunkern bunkrar bunkrarna
Genitive bunkers bunkerns bunkrars bunkrarnas
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