bunker
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bunker¹
- /ˈbʌŋ.kə/ UK
- /ˈbʊŋ.kə/ Northern England
- /ˈbʌŋ.kɚ/ Canada, US
- /ˈbɐŋ.kə/ Australia, New Zealand
Rhymes with -ʌŋkə(ɹ)
Where it comes from
The origin of the noun is uncertain; the earliest sense is sense 7.1 (“box or chest, the lid of which serves as a seat”), from Scots bunker (“bench; pew; window-seat; sand pit (especially in golf); coal receptacle; sleeping berth, bunk”), from Early Scots bunker, bunkur, bonker (“a chest or box, often serving as a seat”), probably from Old Norse bunki (“a heap”) (probably whence bunk (“sleeping berth in a ship, train, etc.”)), from Proto-Germanic *bunkô (“a heap, pile; a bump, lump, a crowd”), perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *bʰenǵʰ- (“thick”) or *bʰeg- (“to billow, swell; to arch, bend, curve (?)”). Compare Middle Low German bunge (“drum, container”), Middle High German bunge (“drum”). Sense 1 (“hardened shelter designed to protect the inhabitants from falling bombs or other attacks”) was derived from German Bunker during World War II, which was itself from bunker (“large bin or container for storing coal”) (sense 5).
The verb is derived from the noun.
noun bunkers
- A hardened shelter, often partly buried or fully underground, designed to protect the inhabitants from falling bombs or other attacks. The military built a bunker to help evacuate the citizens safely from the bombings.
- A compartment for storing coal for the ship's boilers; or a tank for storing fuel oil for the ship's engines.
- The coal compartment on a tank engine; it can also refer to that on a tender engine. Among tank engines, the 0-6-2 wheel arrangement was by far the most numerous, there being nearly 450 of this arrangement, which offers the advantage of good power and adhesive weight, coupled with adequate tank and bunker capacity, within a limited compass.
- Ellipsis of bunker oil (usually plural). The vessel is taking on bunkers.
- A hazard on a golf course consisting of a sand-filled hollow. [Letter X, page 204] At length I came within sight of them, three in number, where they sat cosily niched, into what you might call a bunker, a little sand-pit, dry and snug, and surrounded by its banks, and a screen of whins in full bloom. […] [Letter XI, page 223] And are ye in the wont of drawing
- An obstacle used to block an opposing player's view and field of fire.
- A large bin or container for storing coal, often built outdoors in the yard of a house. There used to be a coal bunker at the back of the house - it was demolished years ago.
- A sort of box or chest, as in a window, the lid of which serves as a seat. A winnock-bunker in the eaſt, / There ſat auld Nick, in ſhape o' beaſt; […]
- A kitchen worktop.
- A refrigerator or freezer, usually with an open top, used to display chilled or frozen merchandise for convenience in grocery stores.
verb bunkers · bunkering · bunkered
- To load (a vessel) with coal or fuel oil for the engine.
- To take a load of coal or fuel oil for its engine.
- To steal bunker fuel by illicitly siphoning it off.
- To hit (a golf ball) into a bunker; (chiefly passive voice) to place (a golfer) in the position of having a golf ball in a bunker.
- To place (someone) in a position that is difficult to get out of; to hinder. Proteus. Or we resign and tell the country that we cant carry on the King's Government under conditions which destroy our responsibility. / Balbus. Thatll do it. He couldnt face that. / Crassus. Yes: thatll bunker him.
- To fire constantly at (an opponent hiding behind an obstacle), trapping them and preventing them from firing at other players; also, to eliminate (an opponent behind an obstacle) by rushing to the position and firing at extremely close range as the player becomes exposed.
- Often followed by down: to take shelter in a bunker or other place. As troops swarmed the streets below and gun battles continued to rage, I bunkered in a room on the top floor of a building in the middle of the red zone. Redshirt spokesman Sean Boonpracong sought refuge there too. Protesters burned a train station below, hurling tyres on to an already roaring blaze
bunker²
- /ˈbʌŋ.kə/ UK
- /ˈbʊŋ.kə/ Northern England
- /ˈbʌŋ.kɚ/ Canada, US
- /ˈbɐŋ.kə/ Australia, New Zealand
Rhymes with -ʌŋkə(ɹ)
Where it comes from
From bunk (“to fail to attend school or work without permission, to play truant”) + -er (suffix forming agent nouns indicating a person or thing that does an action).
noun bunkers
- One who bunks off; a truant from school.
bunker³
- /ˈbʌŋ.kə/ UK
- /ˈbʊŋ.kə/ Northern England
- /ˈbʌŋ.kɚ/ Canada, US
- /ˈbɐŋ.kə/ Australia, New Zealand
Rhymes with -ʌŋkə(ɹ)
Where it comes from
Clipping of mossbunker, a variant of mossbanker, from Dutch marsbanker (“common scad or Atlantic horse mackerel (Trachurus trachurus)”), from Marsdiep (“deep tide-race between Den Helder and Texel in the Netherlands”) + bank (“shallow part of the sea near a coast”) + -er (suffix forming nouns denoting male inhabitants of a place).
noun bunkers
- The menhaden, any of several species of fish in the genera Brevoortia and Ethmidium. Ten hours of footage revealed the young [shark's] habits, such as diving for squid up to 150 feet deep, then moving closer to shore to feast on huge schools of bunker fish.
Bunker⁴
proper noun
- A surname.
Thesaurus
Closest in meaning: dugout, trap, sand trap, blockhouse, bulwark, fortress, fort, stronghold, hatch, basement, box, pillbox, cargo, trench, ditch, cellar
Translations
Every language
noun hardened shelter designed to protect the inhabitants from falling bombs or other attacks
| Español | búnker |
|---|---|
| 한국어 | 엄폐호 eompyeho, 벙커 beongkeo, 토치카 tochika, 엄체호 eomcheho |
| 日本語 | バンカー bankā, 掩蔽壕 enpeigō, 掩体壕 entaigō, トーチカ tōchika |
| 中文 | 地堡 dìbǎo, 掩體 /掩体 yǎntǐ |
| Português | casamata |
| Français | bunker |
| Deutsch | Bunker, Schutzkeller |
| Italiano | bunker |
| Ελληνικά | οχυρό ochyró, καταφύγιο katafýgio |
| Română | buncăr |
| Русский | бу́нкер búnker |
| Tiếng Việt | boongke, boong-ke, hầm |
| العربية | مَخْبَأ maḵbaʔ, قَبْو qabw |
noun container for storing coal or fuel oil for a ship’s engine
| Ελληνικά | καυσιμαποθήκη kafsimapothíki |
|---|
noun hazard on a golf course consisting of a sand-filled hollow
| Español | bunker |
|---|---|
| 한국어 | 벙커 beongkeo |
| 日本語 | バンカー bankā |
| Deutsch | Bunker |
| Italiano | bunker |
| Русский | песчаная зона pesčanaja zona |
noun large bin or container for storing coal
| Italiano | bunker |
|---|---|
| Ελληνικά | καυσιμαποθήκη kafsimapothíki |
verb to load (a vessel) with coal or fuel oil for the engine
| Deutsch | bunkern |
|---|
verb of a vessel: to take a load of coal or fuel oil for its engine
| Deutsch | bunkern |
|---|
Talk about this word "bunker." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/bunker. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. bunker. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/bunker "bunker." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/bunker.Cite this
@misc{bunker_2026,
title = {bunker},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/bunker},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
