bunker

Meaning

Noun

1. A hardened shelter, often partly buried or fully underground, designed to protect the inhabitants from falling bombs or other attacks.
2. A compartment for storing coal for the ship's boilers; or a tank for storing fuel oil for the ship's engines.
3. The coal compartment on a tank engine.
4. A hazard on a golf course consisting of a sand-filled hollow.
5. An obstacle used to block an opposing player's view and field of fire.
6. A large bin or container for storing coal, often built outdoors in the yard of a house.
7. A sort of box or chest, as in a window, the lid of which serves as a seat.
8. (slang) A kitchen worktop.

Verb

1. To load (a vessel) with coal or fuel oil for the engine.
2. To take a load of coal or fuel oil for its engine.
3. To steal bunker fuel by illicitly siphoning it off.
4. To hit (a golf ball) into a bunker; (chiefly passive voice) to place (a golfer) in the position of having a golf ball in a bunker.
5. (informal) To hit (a golf ball) into a bunker; (chiefly passive voice) to place (a golfer) in the position of having a golf ball in a bunker.
6. To fire constantly at (an opponent hiding behind an obstacle), trapping them and preventing them from firing at other players; also, to eliminate (an opponent behind an obstacle) by rushing to the position and firing at extremely close range as the player becomes exposed.
7. Often followed by down: to take shelter in a bunker or other place.

Synonyms

sand trap

silo

dugout

shelter

trap

🪤

hopper

refuel

bin

depot

fatback

filler

fortress

fuel

funnel

gas up

magazine

pillbox

receiver

reserve tank

silage

storage

storage tank

sump

tank

unload

storage silo

infundibulum

bugfish

storage bin

pogy

feed bin

Atlantic menhaden

mossbunker

charging spout

receiving tank

charging bucket

stock bin

menhadem

moss bunker

batcher

grain hopper

battlement

bell

🔔

blindage

blockhouse

bony fish

coal cellar

coal yard

Hyphenated as

bunk‧er

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˈbʌŋk.əː/

Etymology

Cognate with Middle Low German: bunge

Cognate with Middle High German: bunge

In summary

The origin of the noun is uncertain; the earliest sense is sense 6.1 (“box or chest, the lid of which serves as a seat”), from Scots bunker (“bench; pew; window-seat; sand pit (especially in golf); coal receptacle; sleeping berth, bunk”), from Early Scots bunker, bunkur, bonker (“a chest or box, often serving as a seat”), probably from Old Norse bunki (“a heap”) (probably whence bunk (“sleeping berth in a ship, train, etc.”)), from Proto-Germanic *bunkô (“a heap, pile; a bump, lump, a crowd”), perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *bʰenǵʰ- (“thick”) or *bʰeg- (“to billow, swell; to arch, bend, curve (?)”). Compare Middle Low German bunge (“drum, container”), Middle High German bunge (“drum”). Sense 1 (“hardened shelter designed to protect the inhabitants from falling bombs or other attacks”) was derived from German Bunker during World War II, which was itself from bunker (“large bin or container for storing coal”) (sense 5).
The verb is derived from the noun.