Word: bunker Part of Speech: noun Etymology: The origin of the noun is uncertain; the earliest sense is sense 7.1 (“box or chest, the lid of which serves as a seat”), from Scots bunker (“bench; pew; window-seat; sand pit (especially in golf); coal receptacle; sleeping berth, bunk”), from Early Scots bunker, bunkur, bonker (“a chest or box, often serving as a seat”), probably from Old Norse bunki (“a heap”) (probably whence bunk (“sleeping berth in a ship, train, etc.”)), from Proto-Germanic *bunkô (“a heap, pile; a bump, lump, a crowd”), perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *bʰenǵʰ- (“thick”) or *bʰeg- (“to billow, swell; to arch, bend, curve (?)”). Compare Middle Low German bunge (“drum, container”), Middle High German bunge (“drum”). Sense 1 (“hardened shelter designed to protect the inhabitants from falling bombs or other attacks”) was derived from German Bunker during World War II, which was itself from bunker (“large bin or container for storing coal”) (sense 5). The verb is derived from the noun. Pronunciation: /ˈbʌŋ.kə/, /ˈbʊŋ.kə/, /ˈbʌŋ.kɚ/, /ˈbɐŋ.kə/ 1. A hardened shelter, often partly buried or fully underground, designed to protect the inhabitants from falling bombs or other attacks. Example: The military built a bunker to help evacuate the citizens safely from the bombings. 2. A compartment for storing coal for the ship's boilers; or a tank for storing fuel oil for the ship's engines. 3. The coal compartment on a tank engine; it can also refer to that on a tender engine. Example: Among tank engines, the 0-6-2 wheel arrangement was by far the most numerous, there being nearly 450 of this arrangement, which offers the advantage of good power and adhesive weight, coupled with adequate tank and bunker capacity, within a limited compass. Example: The bunkers of these engines hold enough coal for one round journey of 120½ miles, and water is taken in each direction at Hexham. 4. Ellipsis of bunker oil (usually plural). Labels: abbreviation, alt-of, ellipsis Example: The vessel is taking on bunkers. 5. A hazard on a golf course consisting of a sand-filled hollow. Example: [Letter X, page 204] At length I came within sight of them, three in number, where they sat cosily niched, into what you might call a bunker, a little sand-pit, dry and snug, and surrounded by its banks, and a screen of whins in full bloom. […] [Letter XI, page 223] And are ye in the wont of drawing up wi' all the gangrel bodies that ye meet on the high road, or find cowering in a sand-bunker upon the links? 6. An obstacle used to block an opposing player's view and field of fire. 7. A large bin or container for storing coal, often built outdoors in the yard of a house. Labels: UK, historical Example: There used to be a coal bunker at the back of the house - it was demolished years ago. 8. A sort of box or chest, as in a window, the lid of which serves as a seat. Labels: Scotland Example: A winnock-bunker in the eaſt, / There ſat auld Nick, in ſhape o' beaſt; […] Example: There was no seat accommodated him so well as the "bunker" at Woodend, and no face he loved so much to gaze on as Jeanie Deans's. 9. A kitchen worktop. Labels: Scotland, slang 10. A refrigerator or freezer, usually with an open top, used to display chilled or frozen merchandise for convenience in grocery stores.