bung1
/bʌŋ
/noun
A stopper for closing a hole in a container.His invention was designed to cut a hole through an existing bung or stopper rather than through the oak barrel head....
- On a thirsty day, unscrupulous carters were known to extract a free drink from a keg of porter by boring a small hole through the bung, inserting a goose quill and sucking some of the contents.
- A barrel is made up of staves shaped into a bulging cylinder, with hoops round it, a flat circular head at either end, and at least one hole for a bung.
Synonyms
stopper, plug, cork, spigot, spile, seal, cap, top, lid, cover;
North American stopple
verb [with object]
1Close with a stopper: the casks are bunged before delivery...
- They phoned West Wiltshire Housing Society which sent someone out to mend the damaged wires and bung up the hole into the attic but the squirrels were not deterred and more got in through a gap from their neighbour's house.
- In the mean time, until the hole is bunged, Slemko recommends that customers not access the Web site.
- Additionally, the Feds sought assurance that the patches MS has issued are adequate to bung the holes without causing problems for the machines they're installed on.
1.1 (bung something up) Block something: you let vegetable peelings bung the sink up...
- I feel light headed, my ears are bunged up and my balance feels hazy.
- It has three different sized grating thingies and the picture on the box very clearly shows it grating cheese, which puts a stop to the n'er-do-wells warning me that cheese would bung it up.
- One fine day it gets bunged up: and there you are.
Phrases
bung it on
Origin
Late Middle English: from Middle Dutch bonghe (noun).
Rhymes
bung2
/bʌŋ/British informal
verb [with object and adverbial of direction]
Put or throw (something) somewhere in a careless or casual way: fill out the reply-paid card and bung it in the post...
- And then, one who stares at a computer terminal for hours together would not be hard-pressed to market a ‘dancing bindi’ and bung in an application package for the same.
- Better cook a steak at home and bung some oven chips under the grill.
- In other words, the factories have the proper machinery and simply bung out an extra 100 pairs a week.
noun
A bribe.I know I'm not the only one to have stopped supporting animal welfare groups, so ultimately these groups will lose power as their donation base shrinks and they can no longer afford million pound bungs to the parliamentary Labour party....
- The real Licensee isn't monikered thus because he owns a bar, but because he's alleged to have a licence to operate in the city, through judicious bungs and threats to police and politicians.
- House-price control is also naive because there are so many ways round it, from free cars, holidays, insurance and moving expenses to bungs in offshore accounts.
Origin
Early 19th century: symbolic; the noun sense dates from the 1950s.
bung3
/bʌŋ/Australian /NZ informal
adjective
1Broken down, ruined, or useless.As the people downstairs had absented themselves to a haven of fresh air somewhere, we were unable to inform them of this bung fuse and therefore unable to rectify the situation....
- All I can say is that my business partners have a sore shoulder, a screwy leg, a skin infection; and I am nursing a bung knee.
- Latham won the running race, while McManus ended up with a bung leg.
2 dated Dead.In parts of Australia, in New South Wales and Queensland, the word "bung" is an aboriginal word meaning ‘dead.’
Phrases
go bung
Origin
Mid 19th century (originally Australian pidgin): from Yagara (an extinct Aboriginal language).