bung
English

Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈbʌŋ/
Audio (AU) (file) - Rhymes: -ʌŋ
Etymology 1
From Medieval Dutch bonge, bonne or bonghe (“stopper”), or perhaps from French bonde, which may itself be either of Germanic origin or from Proto-Celtic *bunda—either way probably from puncta (“hole”), the feminine singular form of Latin punctus, perfect passive participle of pungō (“pierce into, prick”).
Noun
bung (plural bungs)
- A stopper, alternative to a cork, often made of rubber used to prevent fluid passing through the neck of a bottle, vat, a hole in a vessel etc.
- 1996, Dudley Pope, Life in Nelson's Navy
- With the heavy seas trying to broach the boat they baled — and eventually found someone had forgotten to put the bung in.
- 2008, Christine Carroll, The Senator's Daughter
- Andre pulled the bung from the top of a barrel, applied a glass tube with a suction device, and withdrew a pale, almost greenish liquid.
- 1996, Dudley Pope, Life in Nelson's Navy
- A cecum or anus, especially of a slaughter animal.
- (slang) A bribe.
- The orifice in the bilge of a cask through which it is filled; bunghole.
- (obsolete, slang) A sharper or pickpocket.
- Shakespeare
- You filthy bung, away.
- Shakespeare
Verb
bung (third-person singular simple present bungs, present participle bunging, simple past and past participle bunged)
- (transitive) To plug, as with a bung.
- 1810, Agricultural Surveys: Worcester (1810)
- It has not yet been ascertained, which is the precise time when it becomes indispensable to bung the cider. The best, I believe, that can be done, is to seize the critical moment which precedes the formation of a pellicle on the surface...
- 2006, A. G. Payne, Cassell's Shilling Cookery
- Put the wine into a cask, cover up the bung-hole to keep out the dust, and when the hissing sound ceases, bung the hole closely, and leave the wine untouched for twelve months.
- 1810, Agricultural Surveys: Worcester (1810)
- (Britain, Australia, transitive, informal) To put or throw somewhere without care; to chuck.
- 2004, Bob Ashley, Food and cultural studies
- And to sustain us while we watch or read, we go to the freezer, take out a frozen pizza, bung it in the microwave and make do.
- 2004, Bob Ashley, Food and cultural studies
- (transitive) To batter, bruise; to cause to bulge or swell.
- (transitive) To pass a bribe.
Derived terms
- bung it on (verb)
- bung on (verb)
Translations
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Adjective
bung (not comparable)
- (Australia, New Zealand, slang) Broken, not in working order.
- 1922, Apsley Cherry-Garrard, Karen Oslund (introduction), The Worst Journey in the World, 2004, page 365,
- The evening we reached the glacier Bowers[Henry Robertson Bowers] wrote:
- […] My right eye has gone bung, and my left one is pretty dicky.
- 1953, Eric Linklater, A Year of Space, page 206,
- ‘Morning Mrs. Weissnicht. I′ve just heard as how your washing-machine′s gone bung.’
- 1997, Lin Van Hek, The Ballad of Siddy Church, page 219,
- It′s the signal box, the main switchboard, that′s gone bung!
- 2006, Pip Wilson, Faces in the Street: Louisa and Henry Lawson and the Castlereagh Street Push, page 9,
- Henry had said, “Half a million bloomin′ acres. A quarter of a million blanky sheep shorn a year, and they can′t keep on two blokes. It′s not because wer′e union, mate. It′s because we′re newchums. Something′s gone bung with this country.”
- 1922, Apsley Cherry-Garrard, Karen Oslund (introduction), The Worst Journey in the World, 2004, page 365,
Derived terms
- go bung
Etymology 3
From bouget (“wallet, purse or bag”), from Middle English bogett, bouget, bowgette (“leather pouch”), from Old French bougette, diminutive of bouge (“leather bag, wallet”), from Late Latin bulga (“wallet, purse”), from Gaulish bolgā, from Proto-Celtic *bolgos (“sack, bag, stomach”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰólǵʰ-os (“skin bag, bolster”), from *bʰelǵʰ- (“to swell”).
Noun
bung (plural bungs)
- (obsolete, Britain, thieves' cant) A purse.
- 1611, Middleton, Thomas, “The Roaring Girl”, in Bullen, Arthur Henry, editor, The Works of Thomas Middleton, volume 4, published 1885, Act 5, Scene 1, pages 128–129:
- Ben mort, shall you and I heave a bough, mill a ken, or nip a bung, and then we'll couch a hogshead under the ruffmans, and there you shall wap with me, and I'll niggle with you.
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Derived terms
- bung-nipper (“pickpocket”)
References
- “bung” in Douglas Harper, Online Etymology Dictionary, 2001–2019.
- Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary, Springfield, Massachusetts, G.&C. Merriam Co., 1967
- Australian National Dictionary, 1988
- Macquarie Dictionary, Second edition, 1991
- Macquarie Slang Dictionary, Revised edition, 2000
- “bung” in Albert Barrère and Charles G[odfrey] Leland, compilers and editors, A Dictionary of Slang, Jargon & Cant, volume I (A–K), Edinburgh: The Ballantyne Press, 1889–1890, page 117.
- Farmer, John Stephen (1890) Slang and Its Analogues, volume 1, page 383
Albanian
Etymology
From Proto-Albanian *bunga, from either (1) *bʰeh₂ǵnos, nasalized variant of Proto-Indo-European *bʰeh₂ǵós (“beech”) (compare English beech, Ancient Greek φηγός (phēgós, “oak”), or (2) earlier *bunka, from *bʰeu-n-iko, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰuH- (“to grow”) (compare Armenian բուն (bun, “tree trunk”), Dutch bonk (“clump, lump”)).
Hypernyms
Indonesian
Noun
bung (plural bung-bung, first-person possessive bungku, second-person possessive bungmu, third-person possessive bungnya)
- A father figure, figurative father.
- Bung Karno ― Father Sukarno
- (colloquial, used in the vocative) A term of address for someone, typically a man; A dude, fella, mac
- (informal) Used to address a man whose name is unknown.
Further reading
- “bung” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia (KBBI) Daring, Jakarta: Badan Pengembangan dan Pembinaan Bahasa, Kementerian Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan Republik Indonesia, 2016.
Malay
Pronunciation
- (Johor-Selangor) IPA(key): /boŋ/
- (Riau-Lingga) IPA(key): /bʊŋ/
- Rhymes: -oŋ
Palauan
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /buŋ/
Tok Pisin
Verb
bung
Derived terms
- bungim
- bungples
Vietnamese
Etymology
Compare bùng.
Pronunciation
- (Hà Nội) IPA(key): [ʔɓʊwŋ͡m˧˧]
- (Huế) IPA(key): [ʔɓʊwŋ͡m˧˧]
- (Hồ Chí Minh City) IPA(key): [ʔɓʊwŋ͡m˧˧]
Derived terms
- bung lụa
- nở bung