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dunch

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dunch¹

  • /dʌnt͡ʃ/

Rhymes with -ʌntʃ

Where it comes from

From Middle English dunchen, of uncertain origin. Possibly from the noun (see below); or of North Germanic origin, related to Old Swedish diunga (“to hit, knock”), dialectal Swedish dunka (“to beat”); or from Middle English dengen, from Old English denġan, denċġan (“to knock, ding”), from Proto-Germanic *dangijaną (“to bang, knock”). Compare English dinge.

verb dunches · dunching · dunchin · dunched · dunsh

  1. Geordie To knock against; to hit, punch
  2. Geordie To crash into; to bump into.
  3. Scotland To gore with the horns, as a bull.
  4. UK To push, jog, or nudge, especially with the elbow.

dunch²

  • /dʌnt͡ʃ/

Rhymes with -ʌntʃ

Where it comes from

From Middle English dunche, perhaps from Old English *dynċ, from Proto-Germanic *dunkiz.

Compare Old Norse dykr, dynkr (“a crashing noise”), Danish dunk (“a blow”), Swedish dunk (“a thump, clap”), Norwegian dunk (“a knock, bump”).

noun dunches

  1. dialectal A push; knock; bump. And just at the same time the tide caught the brig, and threw the wind out of her sails. She came round into the wind like a top, and the next moment struck the reef with such a dunch as threw us all flat upon the deck, and came near to shake Mr. Riach from his place upon the mast.
  2. A fat hit from a claggy lie.

dunch³

  • /dʌnt͡ʃ/

Rhymes with -ʌntʃ

Where it comes from

Blend of dinner + lunch, probably in imitation of brunch.

noun

  1. informal, rare A leisurely meal between lunch and dinner in the late afternoon or early evening (about 3-5 p.m.), usually instead of lunch or dinner. I have a lunchtime meeting tomorrow, so let's have dunch together instead.

    Similar: linner, lupper

Dunch⁴

proper noun Dunches

  1. A surname.

Translations

Every language

noun meal between lunch and dinner

Españolmerienda
Portuguêsmerenda
Italianomerenda

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Cite this
MLA

"dunch." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/dunch. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

dunch. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/dunch

Chicago

"dunch." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/dunch.

BibTeX
@misc{dunch_2026,
  title = {dunch},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/dunch},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}