conk

conk

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /kɒŋk/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /kɑŋk/

• Audio (RP)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɒŋk

Etymology 1

Variant or figurative use of conch. Attested since the nineteenth century.[1]

Alternative forms

• konk

Noun

conk (plural conks)

Bracket fungus on a fallen tree trunk

1. The shelf- or bracket-shaped fruiting body of a bracket fungus (also called a shelf fungus), i.e. a mushroom growing off a tree trunk.
2. (slang) A nose, especially a large one.
3. Alternative spelling of conch

Derived terms

• artist's conk

Translations

in mycology: the shelf- or bracket-shaped fruiting body of a Bracket fungus

Finnish: kääpä (fi) French: langue (fr) f

slang: a nose — see schnozzle

conch — see conch

Verb

conk (third-person singular simple present conks, present participle conking, simple past and past participle conked)

1. (slang) To hit, especially on the head.
   • 1960, P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse, chapter XVII, in Jeeves in the Offing, London: Herbert Jenkins, OCLC 1227855:

     She came skipping to me just now, clapping her little hands and bleating about how very, very happy she was, dear Mrs Travers. The silly young geezer. I nearly conked her one with my trowel. I'd always thought her half-baked, but now I think they didn't even put her in the oven.

Derived terms

• cold-conk
• conk out

Translations

slang: to hit

Bulgarian: удрям (bg) (udrjam) French: cogner (fr) German: schlagen (de), treffen (de) Hungarian: fejbe kólint/vág/ver/csap Portuguese: dar (um) cascudo

Etymology 2

From congolene, the brand name of a hair-straightening product.

Singer Nat King Cole in 1956 with his hair conked

Noun

conk (plural conks)

1. (US, dated) A hairstyle involving the chemical straightening and styling of kinky hair.

Verb

conk (third-person singular simple present conks, present participle conking, simple past and past participle conked)

1. (US, dated) To chemically straighten tightly curled hair.
   • 1957, James Baldwin, “Sonny’s Blues,” in Going to Meet the Man, Dial, 1965,

     The barbecue cook, wearing a dirty white apron, his conked hair reddish and metallic in the pale sun, and a cigarette between his lips, stood in the doorway, watching them.

Translations

to chemically straighten tightly curled hair

Hungarian: kiegyenesít (hu), kisimít (hu)

Etymology 3

Unknown. Attested since the early twentieth century.

Verb

conk (third-person singular simple present conks, present participle conking, simple past and past participle conked)

1. (colloquial, often with out) To fail or show signs of failing, cease operating, break down.
   • 1921, Australian Aero Clubs, Sea, Land and Air, volume 3, page 310:

     Therefore, have two or more engines, so that there is still some power left if one engine conks.

   • 1983, Walli Leff and Marilyn Haft, Time without Work, page 93:

     I watch television when it's playing, but it done conked out. Everything is conked out.

2. (colloquial, often with out) To become unconscious.

Translations

to cease operating, break down

French: lâcher (fr), péter (fr)

to become unconscious

References

1. “conk”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.

Anagrams

• Nock, nock