bang
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: enpr: băng
ipa: /bæŋ(ɡ)/
ipa: /baŋ/
note: Dublin
ipa: /bæn/
text: Audio (US)
rhymes: -æŋ
homophone: bhang
Forms: form: bangs
form: bangue
Etymology: From Middle English *bangen, from Old English *bangian or borrowed from Old Norse banga (“to pound, hammer”); both from Proto-Germanic *bangōną (“to beat, pound”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰen- (“to beat, hit, injure”). Cognate with Scots bang, bung (“to strike, bang, hurl, thrash, offend”), Icelandic banga (“to pound, hammer”), Old Swedish bånga ("to hammer"; whence modern Swedish banka (“to knock, pound, bang”)), Danish banke (“to beat”), bengel (“club”), Low German bangen, bangeln (“to strike, beat”), West Frisian bingel, bongel, Dutch bengel (“bell; rascal”), German Bengel (“club”), bungen (“to throb, pulsate”).
In the sense of a fringe of hair, from bang off.
In the sense of abrupt left turn, from Boston left and associated risk of a crash.
Senses: examples: text: When he struck it with a hammer, there was a loud bang.
text: A fiendish yell then followed / Ev'ry salvo's 'bang' and 'bloop'.
ref: 1992, Bob Magor, Blood on the Board, page 39:
synonyms: boom
report
glosses: A sudden percussive noise.
glosses: A strike upon an object causing such a noise.
glosses: An explosion.
examples: text: Tiffany has long hair and bangs.
text: his hair cut in front like a young lady's bang
ref: 1880, William Dean Howells, The Undiscovered Country:
text: She was not much to look at. Her red hair hung in an uncurled bang over her forehead
ref: 1902, Barbara Baynton, Squeaker's Mate; reprinted in Carmel Bird, editor, The Penguin Century of Australian Stories, 2000, →ISBN:
glosses: Synonym of bangs: hair hanging over the forehead, especially a hairstyle with such hair cut straight across.
synonyms: word: bangs
extra: hair hanging over the forehead, especially a hairstyle with such hair cut straight across
examples: text: An e-mail address with an ! is called a bang path.
text: Incidentally, a useful abbreviation for "Exclamation point" is "Bang."
ref: 1980, C.W. Wilkinson, Peter H. Clarke, Dorothy C.M. Wilkinson, Communicating through Letters and Reports, 7th edition, page 651:
glosses: The symbol !, known as an exclamation point.
topics: mathematics
sciences
glosses: A factorial, in mathematics, because the factorial of n is often written as n!
glosses: An act of sexual intercourse.
glosses: An offbeat figure typical of reggae songs and played on guitar and piano.
examples: text: Load the bang into the hole.
topics: business
mining
glosses: An explosive product.
examples: text: Of course, I take a bang or some mud in coffee now and then, and I pick up on gage right smart.
ref: 1951 December 20, William S. Burroughs, “To Allen Ginsberg”, in Oliver Harris, editor, The Letters of William S. Burroughs, 1945–1959, New York: Penguin, published 1993, →ISBN, page 98:
text: As for myself, I take a bang now and then—I know plenty of croakers—but I really couldn't keep up a habit without a lot of running around and bother.
ref: 1952 January 19, William S. Burroughs, “To Allen Ginsberg”, in Oliver Harris, editor, The Letters of William S. Burroughs, 1945–1959, New York: Penguin, published 1993, →ISBN, page 101:
glosses: An injection, a shot (of a narcotic drug).
qualifier: Boston area
glosses: An abrupt left turn.
examples: text: There was a bang of onions off his breath.
glosses: strong smell (of)
examples: text: I hate the movies like poison, but I get a bang imitating them.
ref: 1951 July 16, J[erome] D[avid] Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye, Boston, Mass.: Little, Brown and Company, →OCLC, page 38:
text: "We all know you give great parties, Mr. Lippincott."
"It gives me a bang, even a bigger bang than this," Mr. Lippincott said, indicating his drink and then finishing it.
ref: 1993, Douglas Woolf, Sandra Braman, Hypocritic Days & Other Tales, page 40:
text: Yes, he got a bang out of cheating Rollo.
ref: 2000, James Hadley Chase, Make the Corpse Walk, page 31:
glosses: A thrill.
Synonyms: word: strike
word: blow
word: explosion
sense: the symbol !
word: exclamation point
sense: the symbol !
word: exclamation mark
sense: the symbol !
word: pling
word: bang
word: blam
word: boom
word: boom-boom
word: clap
word: crack
word: kaboom
word: kerboom
word: pow
word: report
Hypernyms: word: sound
Hyponyms: word: chug
word: putt
word: thunderclap
Related terms: word: beep
word: tap
word: snap