Bunk Meaning
/bʌŋk/Definition, CEFR level C2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
nounOne of a series of berths or beds placed in tiers.
nounA built-in bed on board ship, often erected in tiers one above the other.
Sentence Examples
She fell from the top of the bunk bed.
Bunk beds are a way to save space.
He sat up on the hard bunk and rubbed his eyes.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The children climbed into their shared ____ bed to sleep at camp.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The children slept in a ____ bed to save some space in their room.
Word Origin & History
Sense of sleeping berth possibly from Scottish English bunker (“seat, bench”), origin is uncertain but possibly Scandinavian Compare Old Swedish bunke (“boards used to protect the cargo of a ship”). See also boarding, flooring and compare bunch.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"The men resided in a huge bunk house, which consisted of one room only, with a shack outside where the cooking was done. In the large room were a dozen bunks ; half of them in a very dishevelled state, […]"
— 1913, Robert Barr, chapter 6, in Lord Stranleigh Abroad:
"“You can’t pull any bunk like that on us!” roared Quelch. “We’ve had enough of this flapdoodlery! Take your money, Mrs. Clinton, and sign the deed.”"
— 1927, Arthur Train, When Tutt Meets Tutt, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, page 47:
"This knife-throwing act is the bunk"
— 1927 January 30, Randall Faye, 1:45 from the start, in Upstream, spoken by Eric Brasingham (Earle Foxe), Fox Film Corporation:
"I still can get off with a pound of bunk and pretend it's some Runtz"
— 2020 July 18, Rio Da Yung OG, featured by T LB$, “Toledo 2 Flint”, in The World is Yours, 1:26–1:28:
"She was bunked from the convent last term. I don't quite know what for."
— 1945, Evelyn Waugh, chapter 4, in Brideshead Revisited […], London: Chapman & Hall, published 1952, →OCLC, book 1 (Et in Arcadia Ego), pages 83–84:
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CEFR Practice Quiz
The children climbed into their shared ____ bed to sleep at camp.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The children slept in a ____ bed to save some space in their room.