▪ I. clunk, n. Sc.
[Echoic: cf. Norw. and Sw. klunk gulp, klunka to gulp, to guggle.]
A sound such as is made by a cork drawn forcibly from a bottle, by liquid poured out of a narrow-necked vessel, or shaken in a vessel partially empty, etc.
| 1823 Galt Entail III. xiii. 125 The corks playing clunk in the kitchen frae morning to night. a 1856 H. Miller Cruise of Betsey (1858) 224 There was the usual..mixture of guggle, clunk, and splash, which forms..the voyager's concert. |
▪ II. clunk, v.
[See prec. (Sense 2 corresponds to Sw. klunka.)]
1. intr. To make the sound described under clunk n. colloq. (orig. Sc.).
| In Jam.; and in mod. Dicts. a 1796 Burns Jolly Beggars, And made the bottle clunk To their health that night. 1834 ‘C. North’ in Blackw. Mag. July 138 Canna ye sook that back without your jaw-banes clunkin? 1960 ‘M. Cronin’ Begin with Gun ix. 106 His face clunked against the wall. |
2. trans. To swallow with an effort, to gulp down, bolt. (s.w. dial.)
| 1847–78 Halliwell, Clunk, To swallow. Devon. 1853 N. & Q. Ser. i. VIII. 65. 1880 W. Cornwall (& E. Cornw.) Gloss., Clunk, to swallow with an effort; to bolt. |
3. trans. To hit or strike (so as to produce a ‘clunk’). Cf. clonk v. 2. colloq.
| 1943 I. Wolfert Tucker's People (1944) xiii. 202 Sit down or I'll clunk your other ear. 1952 B. Ulanov Hist. Jazz (1958) vii. 73 With..Bill Johnson clunking the banjo. |
Hence ˈclunking vbl. n.
| 1960 ‘N. Shute’ Trustee fr. Toolroom 163 The rudder in its pintles made a clunking sound. |