Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A snail-shell.
- noun A snail-shell or a horse-chestnut used in a boys' game, in which the object is to break the snail-shell or horse-chestnut by striking it, with another.
- noun plural The game itself.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun the inedible nutlike seed of the horsechestnut.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun UK A
horse-chestnut used in the game ofconkers .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun the inedible nutlike seed of the horse chestnut
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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A conker is a horse chestnut, whence conkers, the children's game.
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In some towns it is the practice to remove the young nuts from the trees in July so as to prevent them from being stoned and broken by boys later on when the "conker" demand begins.
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Toby Spence's apprentice David, glossy as a shiny conker in voice and manner, was impeccable.
Review: Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg at Royal Opera House 2012
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"It's something rubbish, like a conker or a Mars Bar," Moyles posited before revealing that his own parents had been married for 40 years.
Rewind radio: The Chris Moyles Show; The Archers; The Late Show 2010
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‡Conkers is a traditional English autumn game, played by schoolchildren, in which the seed of a horse chestnut, a conker, is suspended on a string and then used to strike another conker similarly suspended.
Storyteller Donald Sturrock 2010
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Quite hysterically I read that Nut warning labels on peanut packets and rules banning conker matches and homemade cakes at school fetes could be targeted by a new watchdog set up by Gordon Brown to encourage a spirit of adventure.
Archive 2008-01-01 Not a sheep 2008
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But Dad bought the stool and when he got it home took the time to treat it with two different types of wood preserver and was so that it shone like a new conker and would not stain.
Archive 2009-08-01 The List Writer 2009
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But Dad bought the stool and when he got it home took the time to treat it with two different types of wood preserver and was so that it shone like a new conker and would not stain.
France and What would Michael do? The List Writer 2009
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But we equally have silly contests – Welly throwing championships, conker conquests, cheese rolling, beetle drives, snail races to name but a few.
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While the world sniggers at councils who cut down horse chestnut trees in case a falling conker should blind or maim a passing child, and which won't allow a peanut on school premises in case it proves as lethal as a knife, many parents still cling to the belief that if anything happens to their child, it's somebody else's fault.
Christina Patterson: Tips on Parenting from the Dad of a 'Stupid Kid' 2009
vendingmachine commented on the word conker
n. A snail-shell or a horse-chestnut used in a boys' game, in which the object is to break the snail-shell or horse-chestnut by striking it, with another.
Wow. So easy even boys are able to grasp the rules. Must be an easy game.
May 22, 2017
ruzuzu commented on the word conker
I remember many happy childhood hours spent in my small town playing games such as "How Far Does This Crack In The Dirt Go?" or "Can We Knock Down That Icicle With A Snowball?"
Kids these days don't know what they're missing.
May 22, 2017
mollusque commented on the word conker
Breaking snail shells? (shudder)
May 23, 2017
hernesheir commented on the word conker
See conkers.
May 24, 2017
ruzuzu commented on the word conker
Thanks, hh!
May 24, 2017