Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- adjective Extremely enthusiastic and dedicated.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adjective informal, derogatory Very
enthusiastic orenergetic .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- adjective very enthusiastic and dedicated
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
[Earlier Gung Ho, motto of certain US Marine forces in Asia during World War II, from Mandarin gōnghé (short for gōngyè hézuòshè, Chinese Industrial Cooperative Society) : gōng, work (from Middle Chinese kəwŋ) + hé, to be joined together, combine (from Middle Chinese xɦap).]
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
From a World War II catachresis of Mandarin gōnghé (工 gōng, work + 合 hé, together), itself an acronym for gōngyè hézuòshè (工業合作社, 工业合作社 Chinese Industrial Cooperative Society).
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Examples
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