How do you use the word "bunker" in a sentence?

Here are real-life examples of using "bunker": Tom ran back to the bunker. Tom ran inside the bunker.

Bunker Meaning

/ˈbʌŋ.kə/

Definition, CEFR level B2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.

Definition

nounA hardened shelter, often partly buried or fully underground, designed to protect the inhabitants from falling bombs or other attacks.

nounA compartment for storing coal for the ship's boilers; or a tank for storing fuel oil for the ship's engines.

Sentence Examples

Tom ran back to the bunker.

Tom ran inside the bunker.

Ziri forced the soldier to go inside the bunker.

Synonyms & Antonyms

Synonyms:

trap

Antonyms:

None

CEFR Practice Quiz

Soldiers took cover inside the concrete ____ during the heavy artillery attack.

CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)

The soldiers stayed in the deep underground ____ during the long storm.

Word Origin & History

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.

Literary Quotations & Historical Citations

"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." — 1939 September, D. S. Barrie, “The Railways of South Wales”, in The Railway Magazine, Westminster, London: IPC Transport Press, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 161:

"The bunkers of these engines hold enough coal for one round journey of 120½ miles, and water is taken in each direction at Hexham." — 1941 December, “Notes and News: A Tank Engine's 241-mile Day”, in Railway Magazine, page 569:

"The superstructure of the tender is modified by the removal of the side raves, and compartments for the fire-irons are formed on each side of the coal bunker." — 1956 April, “"Merchant Navy" Class Pacific Modified”, in Railway Magazine, page 212:

"[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 up wi' all the gangrel bodies that ye meet on the high road, or find cowering in a sand-bunker upon the links?" — 1824 June, [Walter Scott], “Letter X. Darsie Latimer to Alan Fairford.”; “Letter XI. The Same to the Same.”, in Redgauntlet, […], volume I, Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co., →OCLC, pages 204 and 223:

"A winnock-bunker in the eaſt, / There ſat auld Nick, in ſhape o' beaſt; […]" — 1790 (date written; published 1791), Robert Burns, “Tam o’ Shanter. A Tale.”, in Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect, 2nd edition, volume II, Edinburgh: […] T[homas] Cadell, […], and William Creech, […], published 1793, →OCLC, page 202:

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