junk
EnglishEdit
PronunciationEdit
Etymology 1Edit
From Middle English junke (“old cable, rope”), probably from Old French jonc (“rush”), from Latin iuncus (“rush”).[1] Doublet of junco and juncus.
NounEdit
junk (uncountable)
- Discarded or waste material; rubbish, trash, garbage.
- 2013 May 25, “No hiding place”, in The Economist[1], volume 407, number 8837, page 74:
- In America alone, people spent $170 billion on “direct marketing”—junk mail of both the physical and electronic varieties—last year. Yet of those who received unsolicited adverts through the post, only 3% bought anything as a result.
- A collection of miscellaneous items of little value.
- (slang) Any narcotic drug, especially heroin.
- 1961, William S. Burroughs, The Soft Machine, page 7
- Trace a line of goose pimples up the thin young arm. Slide the needle in and push the bulb watching the junk hit him all over. Move right in with the shit and suck junk through all the hungry young cells.
- 1961, William S. Burroughs, The Soft Machine, page 7
- (slang) The genitalia, especially a man’s.
- (nautical) Salt beef.
- c. 1851-1852, James Russell Lowell, Leaves from My Journal in Italy and Elsewhere
- My physician has ordered me three pounds of minced salt-junk at every meal .
- c. 1851-1852, James Russell Lowell, Leaves from My Journal in Italy and Elsewhere
- Pieces of old cable or cordage, used for making gaskets, mats, swabs, etc., and when picked to pieces, forming oakum for filling the seams of ships.
- (dated) A fragment of any solid substance; a thick piece; a chunk.
- 1846-1848, James Russell Lowell, The Biglow Papers
- Dear Uncle Sam pervides fer his,
An' gives a good-sized junk to all
- Dear Uncle Sam pervides fer his,
- 1846-1848, James Russell Lowell, The Biglow Papers
- (attributive) Material or resources of a kind lacking commercial value.
- junk fish; junk trees
- Nonsense; gibberish
- The student put down junk for answers just to finish his homework more quickly.
SynonymsEdit
Derived termsEdit
- junkaholic
- junkball
- junk bond
- junk bottle
- junk conference
- junk DNA
- junk drawer
- junker
- junk food
- junkhead
- junkheap
- junk hook
- junkie, junky
- junk in the trunk
- junk job
- junkless
- junklike
- junk mail
- junkman
- junkpile
- junk ring
- junkroom
- junk science
- junkshop
- junk shot
- junk sick
- junk time
- junk vat
- junk wad
- junkware
- junkyard
TranslationsEdit
rubbish, waste
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miscellaneous items of little value
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narcotic drug
slang: genitalia
VerbEdit
junk (third-person singular simple present junks, present participle junking, simple past and past participle junked)
- (transitive, informal) To throw away.
- (transitive, informal) To find something for very little money (meaning derived from the term junkshop)
- (On Facebook, a record collector wrote:) "The newest addition to my Annette Hanshaw collection, I junked this beautiful flawless E-copy within walking distance from my house."
SynonymsEdit
- (throw away): bin, chuck, chuck away, chuck out, discard, dispose of, ditch, dump, scrap, throw away, throw out, toss, trash
- See also Thesaurus:junk
TranslationsEdit
throw away
Etymology 2Edit
From Portuguese junco or Dutch jonk (or reinforced), from Arabic جُنْك (junk), from Malay or Javanese djong, variant of djung, from Old Javanese jong (“seagoing ship”), ultimately from Chinese 船.
NounEdit
junk (plural junks)
TranslationsEdit
Chinese sailing vessel
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ReferencesEdit
- ^ Douglas Harper (2001–2021), “junk”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
BavarianEdit
EtymologyEdit
From Middle High German junc, from Old High German jung.
AdjectiveEdit
junk
ReferencesEdit
- “junk” in Patuzzi, Umberto, ed., (2013) Ünsarne Börtar [Our Words], Luserna, Italy: Comitato unitario delle isole linguistiche storiche germaniche in Italia / Einheitskomitee der historischen deutschen Sprachinseln in Italien
CimbrianEdit
Alternative formsEdit
EtymologyEdit
From Middle High German junc, from Old High German jung.
AdjectiveEdit
junk
ReferencesEdit
- “junk” in Patuzzi, Umberto, ed., (2013) Ünsarne Börtar [Our Words], Luserna, Italy: Comitato unitario delle isole linguistiche storiche germaniche in Italia / Einheitskomitee der historischen deutschen Sprachinseln in Italien
North FrisianEdit
EtymologyEdit
From Old Frisian diunk, from Proto-Germanic *dinkwaz, variant of *dankwaz (“dark”). Compare with German dunkel.
PronunciationEdit
AdjectiveEdit
junk
PlautdietschEdit
EtymologyEdit
From Middle Low German and Old Saxon jung
AdjectiveEdit
junk (comparative jinja)