Dictionary

zonk en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• audio AuE
• /zɔːŋk/
• /zɒŋk/
• zŏngk
• zôngk

Etymology

First attested in c. 1950. Unknown origin, likely imitative, of echoic origin.

Meanings

1. (slang) An unfavorable card or token, or undesirable or worthless item used as a prize in a contest or game show (such as Let's Make a Deal).
   • I have three empty coffee cans, two with prizes and one with a slip of paper that says "Zonk." 2004, Timothy V. Rasinski, Nancy Padak, Effective reading strategies: teaching children who find reading difficult, Pearson/Prentice Hall, →ISBN, page 150:
   • A live, mane-embellished, SAG-card-carrying lion, I should point out, who was likely being staged for a few minutes off to the side before he would be used as a freaking “Zonk!” on a freaking game show, for crying out loud. 2003 December 30, Jerrilyn Farmer, Mumbo Gumbo: A Madeline Bean Novel, HarperCollins, →ISBN, page 204:
   • Once a contestant picked a door, Monty would often open one of the other two doors to reveal a zonk,[…] 2008, Max H. Bazerman, Don A. Moore, Judgment in Managerial Decision Making, John Wiley & Sons, →ISBN, page 53:
   • There will always be two doors that hold zonks, so regardless of whether you initially chose the grand prize or a zonk, Monty will always be able to show you a zonk not chosen. 2003 October 1, Gregory Arthur Baer, Life: The Odds (And How to Improve Them), Penguin, →ISBN, page 237:
   • Avoid the Zonk / On the TV show Let's Make a Deal, contestants often had to choose between three curtains. 2006 May 9, Bruce Frey, Statistics hacks, O'Reilly Media, →ISBN, page 208:
   • Behind two doors is a “zonk,” that is, something amusing but of little or no value, such as a goat,[…] 2009, Victor Shoup, A Computational Introduction to Number Theory and Algebra, Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 217:
   • A zonk was way overdue, yet the boys knew that the Seniors knew they would think this was a zonk and would trick the boys by making this another real prize. 2004, Jay Mechling, On My Honor: Boy Scouts and the Making of American Youth, University of Chicago Press, →ISBN, page 124:
2. (slang) The feeling of a drug taking hold.
3. (slang) A cigarette hand-rolled from tobacco and cannabis.

Forms

Translations (12)

de Arschkarte (an unfavorable card or token) · de Zonk (an unfavorable card or token) · sv svarte petter (an unfavorable card or token) · de Schwarzer Peter (an unfavorable card or token) · bg че́рен Пе́тър (an unfavorable card or token) · da nitte (an unfavorable card or token) · nl schijtkaart (an unfavorable card or token) · da sorteper (an unfavorable card or token) · hu Lucifer (an unfavorable card or token) · de Trostpreis (an unfavorable card or token) · cs plíva (an unfavorable card or token) · de Niete (an unfavorable card or token)

zonk en · VERB

Pronunciation

• audio AuE
• /zɔːŋk/
• /zɒŋk/
• zŏngk
• zôngk

Etymology

First attested in c. 1950. Unknown origin, likely imitative, of echoic origin.

Meanings

1. (slang, transitive) To hit hard.
2. (slang, transitive) To make (someone) sleepy or delirious, to put into a stupor.
3. (intransitive, slang) To become exhausted, sleepy, or delirious.
   • After two hours of studying, I zonked out.

Forms

Deriveds

zonked · zonk out

Translations (12)

cs omámit (to make (someone) sleepy or delirious) · cs omráčit (to make (someone) sleepy or delirious) · de müde machen (to make (someone) sleepy or delirious) · ru уста́ть (to become exhausted) · de schläfrig werden (to become exhausted) · de müde werden (to become exhausted) · de wegtreten (to become exhausted) · de schläfrig machen (to make (someone) sleepy or delirious) · de schlapp werden (to become exhausted) · cs odpadnout (to become exhausted) · cs oblbnout (to make (someone) sleepy or delirious) · cs vytuhnout (to become exhausted)