bunce

See also: Bunce and buňce

English

Etymology

Costermonger jargon bunts, perhaps from bonus.

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -ʌns

Noun

bunce (uncountable)

1. (UK, Ireland, regional) A bonus; additional pay; money.
   • 1959, Frank Clune, Murders on Maunga-tapu, page 10:

     To steal a housewife's purse might mean that her children would have to go hungry; but what of that, if the flash young “dip” could gain admiration from his mates by boasting that he had “frisked a judy's cly and lifted a skinful of bunce”?

Verb

bunce (third-person singular simple present bunces, present participle buncing, simple past and past participle bunced)

1. (transitive, slang, archaic) To obtain money from, by trickery.
   • 1832, Records and Briefs of the United States Supreme Court, page 141:

     In brief, you gentlemen who have been contributing to Charles Davis' salary have been bunced cleverly — if not cleverly, then completely. He has done less for more money than any other employe^[sic] in the city.

References

• Tony Crowley (2018) The Liverpool English Dictionary
• Jonathon Green (2024) “bunce n.”, in Green’s Dictionary of Slang