bang

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   A sudden loud noise, like an explosion or something hitting a hard surface.

   The door shut with a loud bang.

2. 2
   verb

   To hit something hard, making a loud noise.

   He banged his fist on the table in anger.

3. 3
   verb

   To shut something noisily and with force.

   She banged the door and stormed out of the room.

4. 4
   verb

   To make a loud knocking or hitting sound.

   The shutters banged in the strong wind all night.

5. 5
   adv

   Exactly or directly on a point or target.

   The boy ran bang into the lamp post.

Appears in

Simplified etymology

Bang is probably a Scandinavian word formed in imitation of a sudden loud sound and has been recorded in English since the mid-16th century. Later figurative uses include bang on, originally air-force slang for a bomb landing exactly on target, and bang for your buck, first used in 1950s America in discussions of military spending.

From Middle English *bangen, from Old English *bangian or borrowed from Old Norse banga (“to pound, hammer”); both from Proto-Germanic *bangōną (“to beat, pound”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰen- (“to beat, hit, injure”). Cognate with Scots bang, bung (“to strike, bang, hurl, thrash, offend”), Icelandic banga (“to pound, hammer”), Old Swedish bånga ("to hammer"; whence modern Swedish banka (“to knock, pound, bang”)), Danish banke (“to beat”), bengel (“club”), Low German bangen, bangeln (“to strike, beat”), West Frisian bingel, bongel, Dutch bengel (“bell; rascal”), German Bengel (“club”), bung…

Topics

External links

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• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary