donkey
Part of speech: noun
Morphological type: derivation
Topics: card-games
government
military
nautical
naval
navy
poker
politics
transport
war
Etymology: The origin is uncertain. Originally a slang term from the late eighteenth century. Perhaps from Middle English *donekie (“a miniature dun horse”), a double diminutive of Middle English don, dun, dunne (a name for a dun horse), equivalent to modern English dun (“brownish grey colour”) + -ock (diminutive suffix) + -ie (diminutive suffix), or similarly formed from the given name Duncan. Compare Middle English donning (“a dun horse”), English dunnock. Became more common than the original term ass due to the latter's homophony and partial merger with arse (compare similar development between coney and rabbit).
Affixes: -ock
Inflected forms:
form: donkeys
pos: noun
tags: plural
form: donkies
pos: noun
tags: obsolete
plural
form: donky
pos: noun
tags: alternative
obsolete
Senses:
gloss: A domestic animal, Equus asinus asinus, similar to a horse.
pos: noun
examples: Lost last Saturday between twenty and thirty shillings they that have found it please to leave it heare there is five shillings reward by Wm. Roberts that goeth with a Donkey with many thanks
DONKEY, donkey dick, a he, or jack ass, called donkey, perhaps from the Spanish, or don like gravity of that animal, entitled also the king of Spain's trumpeter
I vow we must be near the place from where
The two converging slides, the avalanches,
On Marshall, look like donkey's ears.
We may as well see that and save the day.”
“Don't donkey's ears suggest we shake our own?
'For God's sake, aren't you fond of viewing nature?[…]
gloss: A stubborn person.
pos: noun
gloss: A fool.
pos: noun
gloss: A small auxiliary engine.
pos: noun
gloss: A box or chest, especially a toolbox.
pos: noun
tags: dated
slang
gloss: A bad poker player.
pos: noun
tags: slang
gloss: A sailor's storage chest.
pos: noun
tags: UK
examples: The chest may be found among those who stick to the sailing vessels, but for the steamer, the donkey died its natural death when the Suez Canal—responsible for many changes at sea—became an accomplished fact.
Related words: ass
mule
hinny
Derived words: African wild donkey
antidonkey
Balkan donkey
Buridan's donkey
dead donkey
donkey anaphora
donkeyback
donkey bean
donkey bid
donkey boiler
donkey-boy
donkey cock
donkeycock
donkeydick
donkey dick
donkey drop
donkey ears
donkey engine
donkey fringe
donkeyfucker
donkeyhood
donkeyish
donkeyism
donkey jacket
donkey kick
Donkey Kong
donkeyman
donkey orchid
donkeypower
donkey power
donkey pronoun
donkey pump
donkey-punch
donkey punch
donkey rhubarb
donkey route
donkey's ears
donkey sentence
donkey's eye
donkeyshit
donkey shoe
donkey show
donkey stone
donkey stool
donkey's years
donkey vote
donkey voter
donkey work
donkra
heavy as a dead donkey
hung like a donkey
jack donkey
miniature donkey
nodding donkey
pin the tail on the donkey
Sardinian donkey
sea donkey
Spanish donkey
steam donkey
suck donkey balls
suck donkey cock
suck donkey dick
swamp donkey
talk the ears off a donkey
talk the hind leg off a donkey
talk the hind legs off a donkey
up goes the donkey
weredonkey
young donkey
zeedonk
zonkey
Translations: