bonk
/bɒŋk
/(also North American boink) informal
verb
1 [with object] Hit (someone or something): he bonked his head on the plane’s low bulkhead...
- On the first landing she attempts to stand, but one leg is an unhelpful position, and she bonks her head on the landing.
- When Evan tries to mount his trusty steed, he bonks his superhero-sized chin on the saddle.
- ‘Naw,’ he replied smiling fondly and bonking her on the head with his book, ‘My mom drove me today.’
2 [no object] British Have sexual intercourse: the young couple bonking upstairs [with object]: Juan was forcibly ejected for bonking his host’s wife at a party...
- But that does not mean the bike sheds are crawling with nubile adolescents bonking like bunnies, or that those highly sexually experienced teenagers are typical.
- The World Health Organization estimates that for every minute that passes, 83,000 couples round the world are bonking.
- I'll show you mine if you show me yours… that is, I'll tell you which star I'd like to sleep with if you'll tell me who you'd like to bonk.
3 [no object] (Of a cyclist or runner) reach a point of exhaustion that makes it impossible to go further: I bonked and couldn’t pedal another stroke...
- Gerosa is now letting a gap open up at the back of the break… could he be bonking?
- He bonked over the next ascent, losing more than a minute, and the overall leader's mantle, to The Falcon.
- This year I threw time away in the Pyrenees when I bonked.
noun
1An act or the sound of hitting someone or something: give it a bonk with a hammer...
- And yet he runs off stage in tears when he gets a little bonk from a Volvic bottle?
- If an actor looks like a wimp, it's not going to be believable for him to slam down the other character, but a bonk to the eyes might work instead.
- The next thing Ayaki heard was a small bonk and an ‘ouch’ afterwards.
2British An act of sexual intercourse.A self-absorbed advertising type, gives up his Christmas airplane seat to a family man so he can stay behind for a bonk....
- Last year I went back to Kynance with my beloved fiancée, and we thanked my guardian angel by having a delightful bonk on a cliff.
- At least Sex in the City ended with a good bonk, which provided a raucous end to another lacklustre last show.
3 (the bonk) A level of exhaustion that makes a cyclist or runner unable to go further: we had the bonk when we were saddle sore...
- It also means that you need to keep the carbohydrates coming in throughout the race as the bonk will occur sooner than at sea level.
- This additional carbohydrate fuel will prolong the time to the bonk.
- As the miles rack up the body starts to feel fatigued, the mind starts to not be quite as sharp, but I wasn't feeling the bonk and could have gone on for more.
Origin
1930s: imitative.
Bonk is an imitation of the sound of a solid object striking a hard surface. It first appeared as a verb, meaning ‘to shell’, in the First World War. The sexual sense does not seem to have been used before the mid 1970s, but has become established, perhaps because people feel it is an acceptable term that is not too rude. The link with bonkers (mid 20th century), ‘mad’, probably comes from the idea of a mad person having been ‘bonked’ on the head one too many times.
Rhymes
- on that (or this) score
- on the agenda
- on the (auction) block
- on the back burner
- on the back foot
- on the ball
- on the barrelhead
- on the beam
- on the bench
- on the bit (or bridle)
- on the blink
- on the bludge
- on the bones of one's arse
- on the books
- on the bounce
- on the bow
- on the bubble
- on the bum
- on the button
- on the cadge
- on the campaign trail
- on the carpet
- on the case
- on the cheap
- on the chopping block