1
a
: bunk bed
b
: a built-in bed (as on a ship) that is often one of a tier of berths
c
: a sleeping place
2
: a feeding trough for farm animals and especially cattle
bunked; bunking; bunks
: to occupy a bunk or bed : stay the night
bunked with a friend for the night
: to provide with a bunk or bed
British
: a hurried departure or escape
—usually used in the phrase do a bunk
Examples of bunk in a Sentence
Noun (1)
crawled into their bunks and went to sleep immediately
Verb
We'll bunk here for the night.
She was able to bunk with friends.
Noun (2)
the idea that the Great Wall of China is visible from the moon is pure bunk
Noun (3)
he waited until everyone was looking the other way, then did a bunk from the room
Recent Examples on the Web
Soo Kim, MSNBC Newsweek, 26 June 2025
Due to a lack of air conditioning and the overwhelming smell of the sitting urine in the showers, the bunks were more or less unusable, meaning the majority of the Triumph's 4,000 passengers were forced to lug their mattresses onto the deck of the ship and sleep outside.
—Randall Colburn, EW.com, 25 June 2025
Anna Mulrine Grobe, Christian Science Monitor, 13 June 2025
This is where hundreds of workers bunked while building Henry Flagler’s Key West extension of the Florida East Coast Railway, which connected the Keys to mainland Florida.
—Miami Herald Archives, Miami Herald, 8 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for bunk
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Noun
At one point, she is seen securing herself behind a gate inside what appears to be a partitioned bunk or enclosure.
—Soo Kim, MSNBC Newsweek, 26 June 2025
Due to a lack of air conditioning and the overwhelming smell of the sitting urine in the showers, the bunks were more or less unusable, meaning the majority of the Triumph's 4,000 passengers were forced to lug their mattresses onto the deck of the ship and sleep outside.
—Randall Colburn, EW.com, 25 June 2025
Verb
In the nation’s capital, some 6,700 U.S. soldiers are bunking in now-empty federal office buildings, drilling for festivities ordered up by the White House to coincide with Mr. Trump’s 79th birthday.
—Anna Mulrine Grobe, Christian Science Monitor, 13 June 2025
This is where hundreds of workers bunked while building Henry Flagler’s Key West extension of the Florida East Coast Railway, which connected the Keys to mainland Florida.
—Miami Herald Archives, Miami Herald, 8 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for bunk
Cite this Entry
“Bunk.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/bunk. Accessed 9 Jul. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
bunk
2 of 3 verb1
: to sleep in a bunk or bed
2
: to provide with a bunk or bed
bunk
3 of 3 nounEtymology
Noun
probably a shortened form of bunker
Noun
short for bunkum, from Buncombe County, North Carolina
Word Origin
The word bunk is a shortened form of bunkum, which came from the name Buncombe County, North Carolina. Around 1820, the congressman for the district in which this county was located decided to give a very long, boring speech to the Congress. This speech had nothing at all to do with what was under discussion. Still he stubbornly made it, just to please the voters of Buncombe County. The word buncombe and its other spelling bunkum quickly caught on as a name for empty political nonsense. It didn't take long before its use broadened to include any kind of empty or insincere talk or action. In time it was shortened to the more emphatic bunk.
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