plunk
Part of speech: noun
adv
intj
verb
Morphological type: simple
Topics: ball-games
baseball
entertainment
games
hobbies
lifestyle
music
sports
Etymology: Onomatopoeic; the noun is attested earlier than the verb. Noun etymology 1, noun sense 3 (“dollar; large sum of money”) may refer to the sound of a coin hitting a surface. Compare plonk, plink.
As regards verb etymology 1, verb sense 1.4 (“(transitive) to drop, set, or throw (something, or oneself) abruptly and/or heavily”) and etymology 1, verb sense 2.4 (“(intransitive) to drop, land, or set abruptly and/or heavily”), compare French plonquer (Picardy), a variant of plonger (“to plunge”).
Inflected forms:
form: plunks
pos: noun
tags: plural
form: plunks
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: plunking
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: plunked
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: plunked
pos: verb
tags: past
Senses:
gloss: A brief, dull sound, such as the sound of a string of a stringed instrument being plucked, or the thud of something landing on a surface.
pos: noun
examples: They listened and could hear the steady plunk, plunk of an axe somewhere far above them.
gloss: A (heavy) blow or hit.
pos: noun
tags: informal
gloss: A dollar.
pos: noun
tags: US
archaic
obsolete
slang
examples: Den I gives him a five-plunk piece, and he gins me the shange.
Dere's a loidy here […] dat's got a necklace of jools what's wort' a hundred t'ousand plunks. Honest, boss. A hundred t'ousand plunks.
gloss: A large sum of money.
pos: noun
tags: obsolete
rare
slang
gloss: With a brief, dull sound, such as the thud of something landing on a surface.
pos: adv
tags: informal
not-comparable
gloss: Directly, exactly, precisely.
pos: adv
tags: broadly
informal
not-comparable
examples: "Bang!" went a gun behind me. I heard the whistle of shot. Something stung me sharply on the cheek, and I fell forward on my face, giving myself up for lost. […] "Oh, ye will never dee o' a chairge o' guid saft garden peas!" said the daft lassie, scornfully. "Maybe no," retorted I, for my choler was raised. "They are a' vera weel in broth, but if you got them plunk on the jaw, wi' a strong chairge o' powder ahint them, they might bring the water to your e'en as well as mine."
[I]t's one thing to be buried with all your pleasures, like Sardanapalus; it's another to be buried right plunk in front of them, where you can see them.
gloss: Often reduplicated: used to represent a brief, dull sound, such as the sound of a string of a stringed instrument being plucked, or the thud of something landing on a surface.
pos: intj
tags: informal
examples: Look at me; is my eye dilated? do you notice a quiver anywhere? Feel my pulse: plunk—plunk—plunk—same as if I were asleep.
It was the noise of rowing, hard, fast rowing, the noise of two pairs of oars in a native boat, pin oars, and the slap, slap of a boat's bows into the short waves. She knew that noise well. It came nearer and nearer. It passed close by her. Plunk, plunk. She could hear the splash of the oars so clearly that she almost thought she could see the boat in the dark.
John, swinging the axe, plunk, plunk, plunk, was chopping the thinner branches all to the same length.
gloss: To move (something) with a sudden push.
pos: verb
tags: informal
transitive
examples: The moving galley's bow was plunking them [oars] back through their own oar-holes, and I could hear no end of a shindy in the decks below.
gloss: Chiefly followed by down or out: to pay (money); to plank.
pos: verb
tags: figuratively
informal
transitive
examples: Just let them tell him a thing is pretty and fashionable, and Matthew plunks his money down for it.
gloss: To pluck and quickly release (a string of a stringed instrument); also, to play (a stringed instrument) by plucking strings; to play (a piano, etc.) by striking keys; or, to play (a note or tune) on such an instrument.
pos: verb
tags: informal
transitive
examples: Your bass teacher loathed you for loathing the instrument. Every lesson was the same: You would plunk out a few notes, and he would stop you. "Did you practice?" / "Some," you would say. / "You have to practice." / "I know." / Practicing was the most boring thing you had ever done. Plunk plunk plunk (rest). Plunk plunk plunk (rest). That was pretty much how the double bass part went in every piece of music your teacher assigned you. He was right, you never practiced.
Her friends were boggled by how long it took her to plunk out simple texts, but Kate says she learned skills her peers have never had to master.
gloss: Often followed by down: to drop, set, or throw (something, or oneself) abruptly and/or heavily into or on to a surface or some other thing, making a dull sound; to plump.
pos: verb
tags: also
informal
reflexive
transitive
examples: Enrique plunked his money down on the counter with a sigh and bellied up to the bar.
Exhausted, she plunked herself on the sofa.
gloss: To hit or injure (someone or something); also, to shoot (someone or something) with a firearm.
pos: verb
tags: US
informal
transitive
examples: Say, I jes' jumped d' bar, an' d' way I plunked [hit] dat bloke was outa sight. See? Dat's right! In d' jaw!
gloss: To hit or injure (someone or something); also, to shoot (someone or something) with a firearm.
pos: verb
tags: US
informal
transitive
examples: The Braves retaliated by plunking Harper in the next inning.
gloss: To make a brief, dull sound, such as the thud of something landing on a surface; to thud.
pos: verb
tags: informal
intransitive
gloss: Followed by for: to choose, to opt; to plump.
pos: verb
tags: figuratively
informal
intransitive
gloss: To pluck and quickly release a string of a musical instrument; also, to play a stringed instrument by plucking strings; to play a piano, etc., by striking keys; or, to play a note or tune on such an instrument.
pos: verb
tags: informal
intransitive
examples: [D]eafening was what H. V. W. would call the din from the rock stars' dressing rooms where electric guitars whined, drums rattled, sitars plunked; and marijuana made the air a tender blue.
gloss: Often followed by down: to drop, land, or set abruptly and/or heavily into or on to a surface or some other thing with a dull sound; to plump down.
pos: verb
tags: informal
intransitive
gloss: Of a raven: to croak.
pos: verb
tags: informal
intransitive
obsolete
Derived words: kerplunk
plunkety-plunk
plunky
plunker
plunking
Translations: