Definitions

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

  • transitive & intransitive verb To masturbate. Often used with off.
  • noun An act of masturbation.
  • noun A detestable person.

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

  • verb intransitive, vulgar To masturbate.
  • verb transitive, vulgar To masturbate; to give a hand job to.
  • verb intransitive (chiefly fandom slang and Internet slang) To engage in wank.
  • noun slang An act of masturbation.
  • noun slang, pejorative An undesirable person
  • noun slang Nonsense, rubbish.
  • noun Ridiculous, circular or inappropriately elaborate argument about something, especially if obnoxious, pretentious or outright unsubstantial.

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

  • noun slang for masturbation
  • verb get sexual gratification through self-stimulation

Etymologies

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

[Origin unknown.]

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Examples

  • My comments don't refer to the wank directly it's *wank*, but are about free speech and online communities in general:

    Archive 2008-07-01 Doctor Science 2008

  • My comments don't refer to the wank directly it's *wank*, but are about free speech and online communities in general:

    Free speech and the Jerkosphere Doctor Science 2008

  • The trouble with all this carbon footprint wank is that China and India will take absolutely no notice whatsoever of any green measures.

    Kneel Before the Tree God Newmania 2007

  • And there’s obviously an American demographic for whom the combination of ‘Israeli’, ‘female’ and ‘trained to shoot an assault rifle’ is the ultimate in wank-fodder. soullite Says:

    Matthew Yglesias » Leave it to the Professionals 2007

  • By time I get dress I go down stairs and look at my cellphone and notice I have 30 minutes to eat breakfast and leave out. having a wank is a great way to start the day

    GeekLikeMe.net 2009

  • For those not in on Britspeak, to wank is to jerk off.

    Archive 2006-05-01 Will 2006

  • After the automated wank, which is always in clear English you are invited to press a key to speak to someone about their product.

    The Lone Voice 2009

  • Yeah, this 'wank' as they call it has gotten out of hand.

    Someone Is Angry On the Internet grrm 2010

  • The real general decided to "wank" it in his armchair today, or what?

    Poll: Caroline Kennedy's Support Collapses 2009

  • Can the word "wank" repeated 1000 times count as just one word?

    "Read Bono's column and, in 20 words or less, explain its theme." Ann Althouse 2009

Comments

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  • A mountain in Bavaria, Germany. If you would like to see the webcam images, err, presumably from the live Wank-cam, click here.

    January 1, 2008

  • When I was a very young adult I had a friend whose hobby was "collecting" slang terms for this particular activity (NOT the mountain). He never wrote them down, just remembered hundreds of them. Linguists contend that what really matters in a culture will have many words to describe it in all its fascinating details and variations. Money, snow (for Eskimos and Aleuts, etc. I don't recall his relationship status at the time. But one can safely assume that he was never totally without companionship and some degree of comfort.

    March 3, 2008

  • Strapped to the table with suits from the shelter shop

    Comic celebrity takes a back seat as the cigarette catches

    And sets off the smoke alarm

    What do you make of the cool set in London?

    You're constantly updating your hit parade of your ten biggest wanks.

    (She's a waitress and she's got style

    Sunday bathtime could take a while)

    (The boy with the Arab strap, by Belle and Sebastian)

    November 12, 2008

  • “Some publishers insist that consumers will pay for quality, which is perhaps the most idiotic thing I've ever heard. If that were true then, when Sirius satellite radio launched in the US, instead of poaching Howard Stern to lure over paid listeners, they'd have hired Charlie Rose to read out Proust. Meanwhile, the idea that people will pay for quality news or investigative journalism is simply the stuff of journalism professors' wank fantasies.�?

    The Guardian, Viva la app app revolution!, by Paul Carr, March 25, 2009

    April 1, 2009

  • Down the old Monkey House there is a Cercopithecus wanking

    and a baboon (with its thumb stuck up its arse) to revile.

    - Peter Reading, Ukulele Music, 1985

    May 30, 2009

  • Captain America.

    September 23, 2009