▪ I. honk, v.
(hɒŋk)
[Echoic: see the n.]
1. intr. Of a wild goose: to utter a deep, harsh cry or ‘honk’. orig. N. Amer.
| 1854 Thoreau Walden xv. (1886) 271 Their commodore honking all the while with a regular beat. |
2. orig. U.S. a. intr. Of a motor-horn or vehicle: to emit the harsh sound of a motor-horn. Also with driver as subj. and transf.
| 1895 F. Remington Pony Tracks 256 The irrepressible Dan begins to ‘honk’ on his horn. 1911 R. W. Chambers Common Law x. 312 Where now the lonely taxi honks. 1911 H. S. Harrison Queed i. 6 Now and then a chauffeur honked by. 1915 Literary Digest 4 Sept. 467/1 Nearly a dozen autos may be always seen ‘honking’ their way through Nome's busy thoroughfares. 1928 Observer 22 Jan. 10/7 ‘Sunstar’..is feeling fit again and proposes to honk off to Doncaster tonight. 1929 Times 2 Jan. 15/5 The car had been honking underneath my office window for some time. |
b. trans. To utter with such a sound; to cause to make the sound ‘honk’; to remove or drive away by the honking of motor vehicles.
| 1906 ‘O. Henry’ Four Million 51 She would honk loudly the word ‘Clara’. 1914 R. & E. Shackleton Four on Tour 83 The [motor] horn was honked suddenly. 1926 [see beat v.1 3 c]. 1927 Observer 28 Aug. 10 In the shadiest lanes we were honked and hooted out of the way. Ibid. 18 Sept. 8/3 The leisured stroller..is being ‘honked’ off the highway. 1958 [see bleep n.]. |
Hence ˈhonking vbl. n. and ppl. a.
| 1854 Thoreau Walden xv. 271, I was startled by the loud honking of a goose. 1924 Glasgow Herald 18 Aug. 8 The thundering and purring and swishing and honk-ing of the road traffic. 1931 G. Atherton Sophisticates iii. v. 295 The narrow thoroughfare was crowded with honking cars and taxis. 1955 Times 11 May 4/1 Much honking of horns from the cars round the ground. 1969 New Yorker 29 Mar. 27/1 There was little honking; and our driver..was relaxed and cheerful. 1973 C. Egleton Seven Days to Killing ix. 99 Dodging through the honking traffic. |
▪ II. honk, n.
(hɒŋk)
[Echoic.]
1. The cry of the wild goose. orig. U.S. and Canada.
| 1854 Thoreau Walden xiii. (1886) 247 The faint honk or quack of their leader. |
2. The harsh sound of a motor-horn. orig. U.S.
| 1910 ‘O. Henry’ Strictly Business (1917) v. 57 The honk of the returned motor car at the door. |