gonk

English

Gonks from an Australian fairground in the late 1970s.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɡɒŋk/

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

Noun

gonk (plural gonks)

1. A small furry toy like an ersatz teddy bear, popularized in wartime when production of real teddies stopped.
2. A stupid, ignorant, and/or boorish person.
3. (New Zealand, military, slang) A sleep; a nap.

   I'm going off to have a gonk.

4. (UK, crime, slang) A prostitute's client.

Synonyms

• (stupid person): see Thesaurus:dork / Thesaurus:idiot
• (prostitute's client): see Thesaurus:prostitute's client

References

• Eric Partridge (2007) “gonk”, in Tom Dalzell and Terry Victor, editors, The Concise New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English, Abingdon, Oxon., New York, N.Y.: Routledge, →ISBN, page 297.

Verb

gonk (third-person singular simple present gonks, present participle gonking, simple past and past participle gonked)

1. (UK, slang, with "out") To sleep.

   He gonked out on the bed.

2. (US, slang) To lie; to tell an untruth

   You're gonking me!

References

• Eric Partridge (2013) “gonk”, in Tom Dalzell and Terry Victor, editors, The New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English, 2nd edition, volumes I–II, Abingdon, Oxon., New York, N.Y.: Routledge, →ISBN, page 1017.

Anagrams

• Kong, kong