chunk

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a substantial amount

   we won a chunk of money

2. 2
   noun

   A part of something that has been separated; a generally squat, thick, irregular piece of something, e.g. wood or stone.

   The statue broke into chunks.

3. 3
   noun

   A sequence of two or more words that occur in language with high frequency but are not idiomatic.

   In fact, some linguists suggest that 45 percent to 60 percent of what you produce in your L1 is functional chunks of language. These chunks of language also give you some sense of fluency.

4. 4
   noun

   A discrete segment of a file, stream, etc. (especially one that represents audiovisual media); a block.

   The first DWORD of a chunk data in the RIFF chunk is a four character code value identifying the form type of the file.

5. 5
   noun

   A segment of a comedian's performance.

   You begin gathering two hours of dependable comedy by developing that first three-minute chunk. When you're satisfied with it, you create another three minutes of laughs, then another three minutes.

6. 6
   verb

   To break down (language, etc.) into conceptual pieces of manageable size.

   These results offer tentative evidence that suggests that certain components of computer-mediated instruction (in this case, access to and control over syntactically chunked, captioned video) are not necessarily beneficial for certain learners […]

7. 7
   verb

   To throw.

   Calpurnia said it was hard on Helen, because she had to walk nearly a mile out of her way to availed the Ewells, who, according to Helen, “chunked at her” the first time she tried to use the public road.

8. 8
   verb

   Deal a substantial amount of damage to an opponent.

   He's chunked right before the next battle so he has to regen HP.

Etymology

Variant of chuck; or alternatively a diminutive of chump (“chunk; block”) + *-k (diminutive suffix) (compare hunk from hump, etc.). Also compare Dutch schonk.