bonk

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   (informal) to hit, or to suddenly run out of energy in endurance sport

   She bonked at mile twenty and had to walk the rest.

Simplified etymology

Bonk imitates the sound of a solid object striking a hard surface and is a variant of words such as bang and bong. It was reportedly used as a verb meaning “to shell” during the First World War, although its earliest written record is from 1929. The sexual sense does not seem to have been used before the mid-1970s. The probable link with bonkers comes from the idea of someone driven mad by being struck on the head too many times.

Imitative in origin (20th century), echoing the dull sound of a knock or blow; the endurance-sport sense ('to suddenly run out of energy') is a later extension.

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External links

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• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary