bunker

[ buhng-ker ]

noun

1. a large bin or receptacle; a fixed chest or box:

   a coal bunker.

2. a fortification set mostly below the surface of the ground with overhead protection provided by logs and earth or by concrete and fitted with openings through which guns may be fired.
3. Golf. any obstacle, as a sand trap or mound of dirt, constituting a hazard.

verb (used with object)

1. Nautical.
   1. to provide fuel for (a vessel).
   2. to convey ( bulk cargo, except grain) from a vessel to an adjacent storehouse.
2. Golf. to hit (a ball) into a bunker.
3. to equip with or as if with bunkers:

   to bunker an army's defenses.

bunker

/ ˈbʌŋkə /

noun

1. a large storage container or tank, as for coal
2. Also called (esp US and Canadian)sand trap an obstacle on a golf course, usually a sand-filled hollow bordered by a ridge
3. an underground shelter, often of reinforced concrete and with a bank and embrasures for guns above ground

verb

1. tr golf
   1. to drive (the ball) into a bunker
   2. passive to have one's ball trapped in a bunker
2. tr nautical
   1. to fuel (a ship)
   2. to transfer (cargo) from a ship to a storehouse

Word History and Origins

Origin of bunker¹

First recorded in 1750–60; earlier bonkar ( Scots ) “box, chest, serving also as a seat,” of obscure origin

Word History and Origins

Origin of bunker¹

C16 (in the sense: chest, box): from Scottish bonkar , of unknown origin

Example Sentences

He has begun to enter his McConnellesque bunker.

From Slate

Set in a postapocalyptic world where a rich family survives in a hidden bunker, “The End” finds its characters expressing their internal feelings through songs.

From Los Angeles Times

Fiji received the news Radradra's yellow card was updated to a 20-minute red card after a bunker review, the first time Wales have been involved in this World Rugby trial process.

From BBC

The character is a funny, if unsettling, mirror who at times — like Archie Bunker before him — earns a degree of empathy.

From Los Angeles Times

The approval came over vehement objections from Supervisor Janice Hahn, who warned that the purchase would sound the death knell for downtown’s civic heart and shunt the county’s workforce to a “souless” office tower on Bunker Hill.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• dugout
• fortification
• shelter