bunch

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   A number of things growing or fastened together in a cluster.

   He gave her a bunch of flowers for her birthday.

2. 2
   noun

   A large amount or number of something.

   I have a bunch of emails to answer this morning.

3. 3
   noun

   An informal group of people, especially friends.

   They are a friendly bunch once you get to know them.

4. 4
   verb

   To gather or press closely together into a tight group.

   The frightened children bunched together in the corner.

From Middle English bunche, bonche (“hump, swelling”), of uncertain origin. Perhaps a variant of *bunge (compare dialectal bung (“heap, grape bunch”)), from Proto-Germanic *bunkō, *bunkô, *bungǭ (“heap, crowd”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰenǵʰ-, *bʰénǵʰus (“thick, dense, fat”). Cognates include Saterland Frisian Bunke (“bone”), West Frisian bonke (“bone, lump, bump”), Dutch bonk (“lump, bone”), Low German Bunk (“bone”), German Bunge (“tuber”), Danish bunke (“heap, pile”), Faroese bunki (“heap, pile”); Hittite [Term?] (/⁠panku⁠/, “total, entire”), Tocharian B pkante (“volume, fatness”), Lithua…

Topics