plonk1
/plɒŋk
/- ‘We have some left over bacon’ Henrietta said and she carelessly plonked the strips of meat into the same frying pan as the eggs.
- He takes the glass from me, plonking it down on his desk - a little too hard, if you ask me.
- We plonked the stone down where it was to live, stood back, looked at one another, nodded, and the decision was made.
- ‘Hey,’ he said cheerfully and made his way to the couch, and plonked himself down heavily.
- Their son goes to the cinema picks a row where there are three empty seats and plonks himself down in the middle one.
- As I plonked myself down in my seat with my popcorn and my candy floss, cursing the child next to me who had managed to tread on my ingrown toenail and was now causing a ruckus, I knew exactly what to expect.
- The opening is one piano note, plonked slowly, deliberately after the other.
- It shall be like one of those period dramas, with guests conversing politely in the drawing room whilst Kate plonks away in the next room.
- There's a medley, plonked out on a Hammond organ.
- The weakest element is the soundtrack - rhythmic rattles and plops, clonks, clicks and plonks, with vague background song - rather a letdown.
- For instance, I agree entirely with his description of the music as ‘two plinks, a plonk, and a grrr!’
- I cherished the symbols of dominion so soon to be objects of ridicule or subjects of parody - the plonk of the cricket ball, the stamp of the sentry's boot, the hymns and the silly rituals that spoke of old certitudes.
Origin
Late 19th century (originally dialect): imitative; compare with plunk.
There are two different plonks. One, as in ‘to plonk something down’, was originally a northern English word meaning ‘to hit or strike with a heavy thud’, and probably comes from the sound. The other plonk [1930s], describing cheap wine, started out in Australia. It is probably humorous form of blanc in the French phrase vin blanc ‘white wine’, though some suggest that it might be meant to imitate the sound of a cork being taken out of a bottle. Plonker, meaning ‘an idiot’, dates from the 1960s but was popularized by the 1980s BBC television sitcom Only Fools and Horses. It is based on the first plonk and was first used to mean ‘something large or substantial’ and also ‘penis’.
Rhymes
plonk2
/plɒŋk/- Spanish wine, which was higher in alcohol than other wines, was regarded mainly as cheaper heady plonk, and better, more expensive, wines were often cut with it.
- Ever wondered how you can test your taste buds' ability to tell the difference between cheap plonk and fine wines?
- And they have to wash the whole thing down with a pint of lager or some cheap and plentiful plonk.
Origin
1930s (originally Australian): probably an alteration of blanc in French vin blanc 'white wine'.