Definitions

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

  • noun A long time (especially a longer time than expected); ages

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Unknown. First seen in print around 1960. One theory is that it comes from donkey's years; another is that it is an initialism from years, months, weeks.

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Examples

  • I havent been on BP in yonks and now that my computer is back in working mode BP decides to not upload on my computer .. aaarggghhhh!!

    $38 Million for BlackPlanet.com MiGente.com, and AsianAve.com « The Paradigm Shift 2008

  • Sultry voice belying her 20 years and lyrics – quirky doesn’t half describe them — makes her one of the best young musicians I have heard in yonks!

    2005 February « Mudpuddle 2005

  • Sultry voice belying her 20 years and lyrics – quirky doesn’t half describe them — makes her one of the best young musicians I have heard in yonks!

    Nellie McKay « Mudpuddle 2005

  • Sultry voice belying her 20 years and lyrics – quirky doesn’t half describe them — makes her one of the best young musicians I have heard in yonks!

    2005 February 21 « Mudpuddle 2005

  • The only moan that I have about the book is that the Sceptre paperback version had print so small that it had me reaching for my reading glasses, and one of the least inspiring cover designs I've seen on a paperback in yonks.

    A Set Of Russian Dolls Sharon Bakar 2005

  • The only moan that I have about the book is that the Sceptre paperback version had print so small that it had me reaching for my reading glasses, and one of the least inspiring cover designs I've seen on a paperback in yonks.

    Archive 2005-02-01 Sharon Bakar 2005

  • We lost "passion" yonks ago – or rather it suffered a seismic semantic upheaval, and now directly equates to long balls to so-called target men, and a tactical grasp bordering on the remedial.

    Why John Terry has done his 'fronting up' for the last time | Marina Hyde 2011

  • This is a bunch of guys that have been together for yonks, you know, I mean, you don't carry stuff like this onto the stage.

    The Rolling Stones' Keith Richards Looks Back At 'Life' 2010

  • This is a bunch of guys that have been together for yonks, you know, I mean, you don't carry stuff like this onto the stage.

    The Rolling Stones' Keith Richards Looks Back At 'Life' 2010

  • She has to: look after them for yonks, give them good care and then hand them over whilst giving permission for them to love us and for us to claim them as our own.

    Society daily 02.11.10 Patrick Butler 2010

Comments

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  • is this like "holy smokes!"?

    October 4, 2007

  • "Yonks" is a long but unspecified period of time. E.g. "Mmm! I haven't eaten Brasso for yonks!" or "the last time I saw a heavy metal tattoo was yonks ago".

    I've heard it's some kind of weird contraction of "donkey's (y)ears", and maybe it is.

    October 4, 2007

  • It's Britlish, no?

    October 4, 2007

  • I think so. But it deserves wider adoption.

    October 4, 2007

  • Trufax!

    October 4, 2007

  • In use in Australia.

    May 10, 2008