▪ I. bang, v.1
(bæŋ)
Also 6 bangue.
[First in 16th c.; perh. previously in north. dial. from Scand. Cf. ON. banga, OSw. bånga, to hammer; also LG. bangen, bangeln to strike, beat, Ger. bengel cudgel.]
I. 1. trans. To strike violently with a resounding blow; to thump, thrash.
| ? c 1550 Rob. Hood (Ritson) ix. 95 Either yield to me the daie, Or I will bang thy back and sides. 1570 Levins Manip. /23 To bangue, fustigare. 1593 Nashe 4 Lett. Confut. 37 A bigge fat lusty wench it is, and hath an arme like an Amazon, and will bang the abhominationly if euer she catch thee. 1675 Cotton Scoffer Scoft 44 With my Battoon I'le bang his sconce. 1794 Burns Wks. 133 Oh aye my wife she dang me, And aft my wife did bang me. 1847 Tennyson Princ. v. 494 Like an iron-clanging anvil bang'd With hammers. |
2. Hence, in various const., expressing: a. violent action producing loud noise, as to bang off (a gun, music on a piano, etc.), and esp. to bang (a door) = to shut it violently, to slam; or b. to drive or knock with violence.
| a. 1787 Beckford Italy II. 136 A most complicated sonata, banged off on the chimes. 1814 Scott Wav. III. 238 Twa unlucky red-coats..banged off a gun at him. 1816 Jane Austen Emma I. i. 5 She always turns the lock of the door the right way and never bangs it. 1878 Black Green Past. xxxiv. 277 The door was banged to. 1894 G. du Maurier Trilby I. 31 He strummed: ‘Messieurs les étudiants’..striking wrong notes, and banging out a bass in a different key. |
| b. 1877 Daily News 1 Nov. 6/1 This is now being banged into the heads that have planned..this campaign. |
3. intr. To strike violently or noisily; to bump or thump. Of a door: To close with a loud report, to slam.
| 1713 Guardian No. 143 (1756) II. 234 It banged against his calf and jarred upon his right heel. 1860 W. Collins Wom. White i. vii. 31 Taking great pains not to let the doors bang. 1883 H. W. V. Stuart Egypt 302 Our boats were banging against the sides of the Era, making sleep impossible. |
4. Hence: To make a violent noise, e.g. by the discharge of fire-arms.
| 1840 R. Dana Bef. Mast xxxvi. 136 The watch on deck were banging away at the guns every few minutes. |
II. 5. a. trans. To beat violently, knock about; to thrash or drub, defeat, worst. lit. and fig. Hence banged up ppl. adj., knocked about (U.S. colloq.).
| 1604 Shakes. Oth. ii. i. 21 The desperate Tempest hath so bang'd the Turkes, That their designement halts. 1651 Lilly Chas. I (1774) 246 He was presently after well banged by Essex. 1784 Cowper Wks. (1876) 183 You are a clergyman, and I have banged your order. 1816 Scott Old Mort. 80 It's not easy to bang the soldier with his bandoleers. 1886 E. L. Dorsey Midshipman Bob ii. vii. 172 Then Young dragged himself on those banged up legs ever so far..to the Life-Saving Station. 1886 Harper's Mag. June 107 Even the trig, irreproachable commercial drummer actually looks banged up and nothing of a man. 1934 J. M. Cain Postman always rings Twice viii. 76, I began to fool with her blouse, to bust the buttons, so that she would look banged up. |
† b. to bang it out or about: to come to blows, fight it out. Obs.
| c 1600 Rob. Hood (Ritson) xvii. 85 With a but of sack we will bang it about, To see who wins the day. 1622 Heylin Cosmogr. i. (1682) 282 If any two were displeased, they expected no law, but bang'd it out bravely. |
c. Comm. To beat down, overwhelm. Also Stock Exchange, to depress (prices, the market). Cf. hammer v. 2 d (b).
| 1884 Marten & Christoph. Monthly Circ. 31 Mar., Speculators for the fall are as usual taking the opportunity to bang the market by heavy sales. 1907 Daily Chron. 10 Dec. 5/4 What prompted the selling is unknown. It appears like an attempt to bang the price. 1927 Sunday Times 13 Feb. 2 Attempts to bang prices failed to induce much selling. 1938 New Statesman 30 Apr. 750/1 Oil shares were banged in the ‘Street’ on Tuesday night, the leaders falling by about 5s. |
6. colloq. To ‘beat,’ surpass, excel, outdo.
| 1808 Cumbrian Ball. iv. 13 Cocker Wully lap bawk-heet..But Tamer in her stockin feet, She bang'd him out and out. 1837 Dickens in Life ii. i. 34 The next Pickwick will bang all the others. Mod. Sc. That bangs a' I e'er met wi'. Irish Provb. This bangs Bannagher. |
III. 7. a. intr. (dial.) To throw oneself or spring with a sudden impetuous movement, to dash, to bounce.
| 1795 H. Macneill Will & Jean, Up he bang'd; and, sair afflicted, Sad and silent took the road. 1813 Examiner 18 Jan. 43/1 The mob..called out, ‘Bang up lads, in with you.’ 1813 M. Edgeworth Patron. II. xxx. 257 English Clay left his D.T.O...and banged down to Clay-hall. |
b. trans. To throw with sudden violence.
| 1768 Ross Helenore 143 (Jam.) Then I'll bang out my beggar dish. |
IV. 8. The verb stem is used adverbially with other verbs, esp. come, go, in the senses of: a. with a violent blow or shock; b. with a sudden and violent clap or explosive noise; c. all of a sudden (tout d'un coup), suddenly and abruptly, all at once, as in ‘to cut a thing bang off.’ d. bang off, immediately, without delay. Cf. bang adv.
| a. 1832 Blackw. Mag. XXXII. 31 A 32 lb. shot struck us bang on the quarter. 1841 Marryat Poacher xxviii, We came bang against one another. 1842 Sir T. Martin in Fraser's Mag. Dec., Bang went my haunch against an..angle of my bed. 1912 D. H. Lawrence Let. 2 Sept. (1932) 55 Then bang-slap went my heart. |
| b. 1855 O. W. Holmes Poems 139 Bang went the magazine! 1855 Browning Up at a Villa Wks. 1863 I. 53 Bang, whang, whang goes the drum. 1882 O'Donovan Merv. I. 311 Bang, came another blank shot. |
| c. 1795 H. Macneill Will & Jean 1, Bang! cam in Mat Smith and's brither. 1868 Punch 5 Dec. 235/1 Mun, a had na' been the-erre abune Twa Hoours when—Bang—went Saxpence! 1886 W. James Let. 29 Aug. in R. B. Perry Thought & Char. W. J. (1935) I. 602 The moment I get interested in anything, bang goes my sleep. 1895 G. B. Shaw Let. 28 Nov. in E. Terry & Shaw (1931) 20 Somebody will give a surreptitious performance of it: and then bang goes my copyright. 1909 T. E. Lawrence Lett. (1938) 79, I am afraid I have to drive from here to Urfa (Edessa) which is going to cost me about {pstlg}7: so bang go my proposed purchases in Damascus. |
| d. 1886 Baumann Londinismen 7/1 Bang-off..he wrote it ∼ er schrieb's in einem Zuge. 1895 H. James Notebks. 14 Feb. (1947) 188 This thing has for my bang-off purpose the immense merit of having no prescribed or imposed length. 1896 ― Spoils Poynton (1897) viii, She may..think I may want to make her reply bang off? |
e. humorous (with allusion to ‘bang goes saxpence’ as in 8 c): to spend (‘saxpence’) all at once in a fit of extravagance. Hence ˈbanging vbl. n.
| 1897 Westm. Gaz. 17 May 10/1 The desirability of avoiding any unnecessary banging of saxpences. 1901 Daily Chron. 11 Nov. 3/7 Our Northern friends look twice before they ‘bang’ their ‘saxpences’. |
9. a. Comb. with n. as obj., bang-beggar, a strong staff (Sc.), a constable or beadle (dial.); † bang-pitcher, a drunkard; bang-straw (dial.), a thresher.
| 1865 E. Waugh Barrel Org. 29 Owd Pudge, th' bang-beggar, coom runnin' into th' pew. 1639 J. Clarke Parœmiol. 102 A notable bang-pitcher, Silenus alter. |
b. bang-about a. (cf. knock-about a.), rough, boisterous.
| 1933 E. A. Robertson Ordinary Families ix. 199 Dru, that devilish sailor and bang-about good sort! 1960 V. Gielgud To Bed at Noon iii. ix. 222 She keeps the wild-bull bang-about side of Rupert in hand. |
10. Slang phr. bang to rights, of a criminal: (caught) red-handed. Also banged to rights.
| 1904 ‘No. 1500’ Life in Sing Sing 255/1 Bang to Rights, caught in the act. 1932 A. R. L. Gardner Tinker's Kitchen (Gloss.) 281 Banged to rights, found in possession of stolen property. 1958 F. Norman Bang to Rights i. 33 One night a screw looked through his spie hole and captured him bang to rights. 1962 New Statesman 21 Dec. 897/2 If I was making a book on the chances of my being banged to rights, you or any other punter could have 100 to eight to any amount. |
V. Misc. use.
11. trans. and intr. To copulate (with), to have sexual intercourse (with). slang.
| 1937 in Partridge Dict. Slang. 1957 J. Kerouac On Road (1958) vii. 42 He rushes from Marylou to Camille..and bangs her once. Ibid. 43 Marylou's all for it [sc. divorce], but she insists on banging in the interim. 1962 K. Orvis Damned & Destroyed xiv. 90 We banged twice more after you left. |
▸ colloq. With adverbs, where the influence of corresponding literal senses is evident, but is subordinate to the idea of continued or repeated action. a. intr.to bang away: to continue in or at an action persistently, intently, or repetitively; to persevere doggedly.
| 1820 G. Colman X Y Z i. ii. 20 Our company is nearly made up; but still I am in great want of a woman... Somebody that can walk well through the heavy cast of Comedy, troll decently as a Tragedy Queen, and bawl and bang away in a fat fubsey woman in a Farce. 1889 ‘M. Twain’ Connecticut Yankee xxxvi. 468 Here was proof that Clarence was still alive and banging away [as a reporter]. 1909 M. R. Rinehart When Man Marries ii. 20 We all met down-stairs in the living-room, quite informally, and Dallas was banging away at the pianola. 1967 Listener 30 Nov. 731/2 Everybody banging away at that final aspirational aria. 1991 G. Josipovici Big Glass (BNC) 47 Genius is..poor old Sartre banging away at his trilogy. 1998 Dirt Jan.–Feb. 22/2 After three years of banging away, I managed to arrange an interview with Tomac in 1994. |
b. trans. Sometimes depreciative. to bang out: a. to play (music) enthusiastically and noisily, but usually without finesse.
| 1894 G. du Maurier Trilby (1895) i. 22 He strummed,..striking wrong notes, and banging out a bass in a different key—a hideously grotesque performance. 1919 E. G. Craig Theatre—Advancing ii. 51 To perform..in a closed theatre, with a band banging out musical selections from composers of all nationalities and centuries. 1951 S. Plath Jrnl. July (2000) 79 Marcia slouched over the piano, her tan a golden brown against her blue sweater, banging out a jazzy version of ‘Ja-Da’. 1991 Dirty Linen Oct.–Nov. 28/4 [She] started the night at the grand piano banging out her boogie woogie and belting out tunes in her gospel/blues style. |
b. to produce hurriedly or prolifically, either in the form of routine and undistinguished work, or as the result of effortless skill (used esp. of writing; cf. to churn out n. at churn v. 3).
| 1928 J. C. Turner Anthony Mundy ix. 85 They came no nearer to the forty pounds offered for catching the winged hand-press that was banging out seditious pamphlets. 1945 D. Thomas Let. 28 Mar. (1987) 547 Please don't forget to have a shot at doing those ‘personal’ thousand words for the introduction to my American Selected Writing. Let me see what you bang out. 1973 N. Freedman Joshua 180 He was not proficient, but banged out pages relentlessly. 1987 D. Clandfield Canad. Film ii. 20 The speed of production—the Board had ‘to bang them out one a fortnight and no misses’..—compromised the organic development of the film story. 1997 Cosmopolitan (U.K. ed.) May 222/2 When it's all going well and you're banging out really beautiful food and everyone is pulling together, there's nothing like it. |
c. intr. Brit. (depreciative). to bang on: to talk at length, and in a repetitive or boring manner, esp. about one's personal interests or concerns; to hold forth or expound tediously.
Cf. earlier banging on n. at banging n.1 Additions
| 1979 Economist 6 Oct. 31/1 Mr. Patrick Jenkin—Social Services... In cabinet tries hard but is inclined to bang on a bit. 1983 Times 1 Dec. 13/6 The dispossessed Stuarts were always banging on about their bad luck. 1993 Guardian 23 Oct. (Skiing Suppl.) 3/2 Then you have to stand around for hours afterwards, smiling vaguely as people bang on about perfect S-turns. 2000 J. Goodwin Danny Boy v. 106 The crumbling walls were pasted with flyers for toss-awful local bands and various posters defending the right to party, asking for the legalization of cannabis and banging on about single mothers and the SWP. |
▸ trans. Brit. slang (orig. Criminals' slang). to bang up: to lock up, imprison, detain in custody; to confine (a prisoner) to a cell; (in extended use) to confine to a particular place. Usu. in pass.
| 1950 P. Tempest Lag's Lexicon 9 Banged up,..‘locked up’ or ‘locked in a cell’. 1966 New Society 31 Mar. 22/2 Some examples of cant words and phrases peculiar to prison inmates and ex-inmates usually familiar only to a narrow section of the community;..getting banged up in a peter (being locked in a prison cell). 1978 Drive Jan. 83/1 In one remand prison..the more disturbed men have to stay ‘banged up’ in their cells for 20 hours a day because there aren't enough warders to cope with them. 1985 J. Sullivan Only Fools & Horses (1999) I. 4th Ser. Episode 4. 228/1 [They] had a bit of a ruck last weekend and they're all banged up on remand! 1990 Daily Mirror 3 Feb. 7 A bloody gorilla looks like Marilyn Monroe when you've been banged up for 15 years. 2001 Daily Tel. (Nexis) 11 Aug. 13 At home, jockeys..are banged up in a dormitory above the weighing room for 24 hours before a race. |
▪ II. bang, v.2
[f. bang n.2]
To cut (the front hair) square across, so that it ends abruptly.
| 1882 Century Mag. XXV. 192 He was bareheaded, his hair banged even with his eyebrows in front. 1883 Harper's Mag. Mar. 492/2 They wear their..hair ‘banged’ low over their foreheads. |
▪ III. bang, n.1
(bæŋ)
[f. bang v.1; cf. ON. bang, OSw. bång a hammering, Da. bank a beating.]
1. a. A heavy resounding blow, a thump.
| ? c 1550 Rob. Hood (Ritson) vi. 79 All the wood rang at every bang. [1570 Levins Manip. /23 Bangue, fustis.] 1598 Florio, Sergozzone, a bang or rap giuen upon the necke. 1601 Shakes. Jul. C. iii. iii. 20 You'l beare me a bang for that I feare. 1663 Butler Hud. i. ii. 831 With many a stiff thwack, many a bang, Hard Crab-tree and old Iron rang. a 1845 Hood Lay Real Life vii, Many a bitter bang I bore. |
† b. A drubbing, defeat. Obs. rare.
| 1644 Sir G. Radcliffe in Carte Collect. (1735) 329 After a shrewd bang Prince Rupert is recruiting gallantly. |
2. a. A sudden, violent or explosive noise; e.g. the report of fire-arms.
| 1855 Thackeray Newcomes II. 58 (L.) The steps of a fine belozenged carriage were let down with a bang. 1884 J. Colborne Hicks Pasha 160 The sharp bang of a section of howitzers. |
b. With allusion to T. S. Eliot's line (see quot. 1925).
| 1925 T. S. Eliot Hollow Men v. 31 in Poems 99 This is the way the world ends Not with a bang but a whimper. 1931 R. Aldington Colonel's Daughter i. 56, I wish you'd all shoot yourselves with a bang, instead of continuing to whimper. 1953 ‘M. Innes’ Christmas at Candleshoe i. 16 Benison is going to end not with a bang but a whimper. 1959 Times 16 Dec. 3/2 Here the world ends neither with a bang nor a whimper, but with a slow, resigned sigh at its own criminal imbecility. |
c. spec. A nuclear explosion.
| [1951 Time 16 Apr. 17/1 (title) Bang! The Day when A-Bomb hit Hiroshima... The old woman neither heard bang nor felt shock, but both ceiling and roof fell down.] 1955 Times 17 May 11/3 Even if these bangs are let off with disgust, not gusto, they can rock international friendship and confidence. 1957 J. Osborne Look back in Anger iii. i, If the big bang does come, and we all get killed off, it won't be in aid of the old-fashioned grand design. |
d. Short for sonic bang (see sonic a.). Also attrib.
| 1955 Britannica Bk. of Year 489/2 A new piece of R.A.F. slang emerged in Bang-Book, a register that pilots were required to sign in the event of their having broken through the sound-barrier. 1955 Times 12 July 8/6 If the pilot produces a ‘bang’ accidentally..he must report this immediately to flying control, who notify the command head⁓quarters. 1963 Aeroplane CV. 5/3 He described the strip of country subjected to sonic bangs from aircraft as the ‘bang swath’, whose boundary of area was the envelope of the bang rays. |
3. A sudden impetuous movement; impetus, go.
| c 1774 C. Keith Farmer's Ha', As he was working lang and strang, And fallowin wi' pith and bang. 1870 J. W. Kaye Sepoy War II. vi. iv. 554 An unwonted amount of confidence and bang. |
4. colloq. A ‘thumping’ lie, a banger; bang-words: explosive epithets, ‘swear’ words.
| 1879 Meredith Egoist xxix, Every crack and bang in a boy's vocabulary. 1906 Westm. Gaz. 20 Jan. 2/1 When the recipient of a letter has to..go in for a comparative analysis of the different letters..he is justified in using bang words. |
5. [Cf. bang n.3] Excitement, pleasure; a ‘kick’. U.S. slang.
| 1931 D. Runyon Guys & Dolls (1932) vi. 129 He seems to be getting a great bang out of the doings. 1951 J. D. Salinger Catcher in Rye iv. 37, I hate the movies like poison, but I get a bang imitating them. |
6. [Cf. bang v.1 11.] An act of sexual intercourse. slang.
| 1937 in Partridge Dict. Slang. 1965 A. Prior Interrogators xii. 239 Isn't it amazing..what a quick bang does for old Lance. 1968 J. Updike Couples i. 35, I bet she even gives him a bang now and then. |
▸ colloq. (orig. and chiefly U.S.). bang for the buck and variants: value for money, return on an investment; chiefly in more bang for the buck. Cf. buck n.8
Used originally of military spending, esp. on nuclear weapons (cf. sense 2c).
| 1953S. Alsop in N.Y. Herald Tribune 21 Dec. 18/6 They believe that the ‘more bang for a buck’ theory is an excuse for the cutbacks, rather than a real reason, and that the ‘buck’ came first by an easy margin, with the ‘bang’ a poor second. 1976 National Observer (U.S.) 30 Oct. 2/4 The labor-backed Health Security Act provides more bang for the buck—more new services for each dollar of added cost. 1990 Music Trades (Nexis) 137 103 Digitals [i.e. digital pianos] are sold on slick engineering, amazing ‘bang for the buck’, and trouble free operation. 2004 Independent 28 Aug. 3/4 The tourists don't want to stay there because they can get more bang for their buck at a revamped chain hotel. |
▪ IV. bang, n.2
(bæŋ)
[= hair cut ‘bang’ off; cf. bang-tail.]
The front hair cut square across the forehead. (Orig. in U.S.) Hence banged ppl. a.
| 1878 F. M. A. Roe Army Lett. (1909) 186 It had a heavy bang of fiery red hair. 1880 Howells Undisc. Country viii. 113 His hair cut in front like a young lady's bang. 1880 Even. Stand. 3 Apr. 4/4 The present style of banged girl. 1936 M. H. Bradley Five-Minute Girl ii. 23 The straight dark hair, with its heavy bang across her childish forehead. |
▪ V. bang n.3
a. obs. form of bhang, Indian hemp. b. Revived (U.S. slang) and often treated as if a slang sense of bang n.1 Also, a ‘shot’ (of cocaine, etc.).
| [1922 E. F. Murphy Black Candle (1926) i. vi. 61 He resorts to ‘a shot’ of morphine, or ‘a bhang’ of cocaine.] 1929 C. G. Givens in Sat. Even. Post 13 Apr. 54/4 An addict is..a bangster, and a bang is a load, a charge or a hyp of the drug he uses. 1933 Amer. Speech Apr. 27/2 The injection of dope is referred to as a bang in the arm or a shot in the arm. 1962 K. Orvis Damned & Destroyed xii. 82 He..talked me into sampling a bang. |
▪ VI. bang, adv.
[See bang v.1 8, and cf. slam-bang.]
Thoroughly, completely; exactly. orig. dial. and U.S., now colloq.
| 1828 Night Watch II. 17, I fetched way bang overboard into the trawl. 1885 Tennyson Tiresias 109 Steevie be right good manners bang thruf to the tip o' the taail. 1907 G. B. Shaw How he Lied in Works (1930) XI. 192 Do..you propose that we should walk right bang up to Teddy and tell him we're going away together? 1924 A. J. Small Frozen Gold i. 28 Here they were right bang on hand—and..they might as well be a thousand miles away. 1931 L. A. G. Strong Garden xix. 170 Bang opposite him..hung a..blue cylinder. 1938 G. Greene Brighton Rock ii. i. 74 He..led the way bang straight down Frank's stairs. |
b. bang on, exactly on. (Cf. quot. 1832 s.v. bang v.1 8.) Used as adj., exactly right, extremely apposite, excellent.
| 1936 Punch 22 Apr. 461/3 ‘Quiet garden square near Hyde Park. Real hot water. Bang on Tubes.’ Newspaper Advt. 1943 Hunt & Pringle Service Slang 12 Bang on, bomber slang for ‘O.K.’ or ‘Everything's all right’. 1945 Partridge Dict. R.A.F. Slang 14 Bang on!, All right! Correct! In Bomber Command: from a bomb dropped bang on (exactly on) the target. 1945 C. H. Ward-Jackson Piece of Cake (ed. 2) 12 Bang-on, perfect, excellent. 1949 E. Pound Pisan Cantos lxxx. 94 And he dumped all his old stock of calicos plumb bang on the germans. 1958 Times 4 Jan. 6/1 ‘Steering by the sun from earlier fixes we came bang on the base,’ Sir Edmund Hillary reported. 1958 Spectator 14 Feb. 210/3 As a realistic tale of low life in London, it is bang on. 1958 Oxf. Mag. 27 Feb. 324/2 It [sc. a play] has enough quality and sense of the theatre to suggest that before long he will land one bang on the target. 1958 J. Wain Contenders 6 I'd been to Brighton for a holiday, and I thought it was bang-on. |