Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A narrow bed built like a shelf into or against a wall.
  • noun A bunk bed.
  • noun A place for sleeping.
  • intransitive verb To sleep in a bunk or bed.
  • intransitive verb To stay the night; sleep.
  • intransitive verb To go to bed.
  • intransitive verb To provide with sleeping quarters.
  • noun Empty talk; nonsense.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To place upon the bunks: as, to bunk a log.
  • To make off; run away; decamp.
  • To occupy a bunk; hence, to occupy a bed; sleep: as, the two boys bunked together.
  • noun The cross-beam on which the logs rest on a log-car or truck.
  • noun A log-car or truck.
  • noun A wooden case or compartment in a vessel, a sleeping-car, etc., and sometimes in a dwelling-house, used as a sleeping-berth.
  • noun A piece of timber placed across a sled to sustain a heavy weight.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun U.S. A wooden case or box, which serves for a seat in the daytime and for a bed at night.
  • noun One of a series of berths or bed places in tiers.
  • noun Local, U.S. A piece of wood placed on a lumberman's sled to sustain the end of heavy timbers.
  • noun informal a bed.
  • intransitive verb Colloq. U.S. To go to bed in a bunk; -- sometimes with in.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun slang Bunkum; senseless talk, nonsense.
  • noun One of a series of berths or bed placed in tiers.
  • noun nautical A built-in bed on board ship, often erected in tiers one above the other.
  • noun military A cot.
  • noun US A wooden case or box, which serves for a seat in the daytime and for a bed at night.
  • noun US, informal A piece of wood placed on a lumberman's sled to sustain the end of heavy timbers.
  • verb To occupy a bunk.
  • verb To provide a bunk.
  • verb UK To fail to attend school without permission; to play truant (usually as in 'to bunk off').
  • verb obsolete To expel from a school.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a rough bed (as at a campsite)
  • verb flee; take to one's heels; cut and run
  • noun a message that seems to convey no meaning
  • noun beds built one above the other
  • noun a bed on a ship or train; usually in tiers
  • verb avoid paying
  • noun a long trough for feeding cattle
  • verb provide with a bunk
  • noun unacceptable behavior (especially ludicrously false statements)

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Perhaps short for bunker.]

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Short for bunkum.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Shortened from bunkum, a variant of buncombe.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Sense of sleeping berth possibly from Scottish English bunker ("seat, bench"), origin is uncertain but possibly Scandinavian. Confer Old Swedish bunke ("boards used to protect the cargo of a ship"). See also boarding, flooring and confer bunch.

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Examples

  • There's no reason why a Roman barracks should have been any different from an 18th-century European one, with entire families crammed into the neat rooms, with bunks curtained off, and the young couple in the corner on the top bunk making babies while the woman in the bottom bunk is giving birth to her fourth, and the children scamper under foot, or making themselves useful polishing kit.

    They're still our lads... zornhau 2009

  • I clambered aboard and, after a brief confusion over seating assignments, settled with my three cabinmates into a tight little space with twin bunk beds along both walls and a table in the middle.

    The Next Empire 2010

  • I clambered aboard and, after a brief confusion over seating assignments, settled with my three cabinmates into a tight little space with twin bunk beds along both walls and a table in the middle.

    The Next Empire 2010

  • And while one of my Wonk Room colleagues calls the idea “plain bunk” because he is a “poor blogger,” my other colleague Matt Yglesias is a long-time booze tax enthusiast:

    Wonk Room » Why ‘Poor Bloggers’ Shouldn’t Worry About A Booze Tax 2009

  • You see I am stiff and trail-sore, and this bunk is so restful.

    A DAY'S LODGING 2010

  • All this government bunk is pure smoke and mirrors.

    Specter faces angry crowd at town hall meeting 2009

  • It's cozy — after all, it is a rail car — with a family caboose featuring a double bed and twin bunk beds.

    A Family Trip in Lancaster County Jennifer Merritt 2010

  • Graduates from top universities working at white collar jobs often live five or six to an apartment, in bunk beds.

    The Three Big Dangers For China's Real Estate Sector Shaun Rein 2010

  • Graduates from top universities working at white collar jobs often live five or six to an apartment, in bunk beds.

    Big Dangers For China's Real Estate Sector Shaun Rein 2010

  • I clambered aboard and, after a brief confusion over seating assignments, settled with my three cabinmates into a tight little space with twin bunk beds along both walls and a table in the middle.

    The Next Empire 2010

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  • Citation on Grub street.

    May 30, 2009