conk
From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
See also: čonk
Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /kɒŋk/
- (General American) IPA(key): /kɑŋk/
Audio (Southern England): (file) - Rhymes: -ɒŋk
Etymology 1
Variant or figurative use of conch. Attested since the nineteenth century.[1]
Alternative forms
Noun
conk (plural conks)
- 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.
- (slang) A nose, especially a large one.
- Alternative spelling of conch
Derived terms
Translations
in mycology: the shelf- or bracket-shaped fruiting body of a Bracket fungus
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)
- (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.
Derived terms
Translations
Etymology 2
From congolene, the brand name of a hair-straightening product.
Noun
conk (plural conks)
Verb
conk (third-person singular simple present conks, present participle conking, simple past and past participle conked)
- (US, dated) To chemically straighten tightly curled hair.
- 1957, James Baldwin, “Sonny’s Blues”, in Going to Meet the Man, Dial, published 1965:
- 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
Etymology 3
Unknown. Attested since the early twentieth century.
Verb
conk (third-person singular simple present conks, present participle conking, simple past and past participle conked)
- (colloquial, often with out) To fail or show signs of failing, cease operating, break down.
- 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, Marilyn Haft, Time without Work, page 93:
- I watch television when it's playing, but it done conked out. Everything is conked out.
- (colloquial, often with out) To become unconscious.
Translations
to become unconscious
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References
- “conk”, in OED Online
, Oxford: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.
Anagrams
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