dunkn.
/dʌŋk/, U.S. /dəŋk/ Originally U.S.
1. An immersion in liquid, typically for a brief period of time; a dip, a dunking. Cf. dunk v. I.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > liquid > condition of being or making wet > action or process of immersing or dipping > [noun] > an instance of
dippingc1440
dip1598
dunk1932
dunking1933
1932 San Antonio (Texas) Light 21 Oct. (Home ed.) b4/4 These particular cookies take up the coffee very quickly, so a brief ‘dunk’ is all that's needed.
1957 Washington Post 7 July c8/3 A dunk in..sea water isn't very expensive on the island.
1993 Canad. Geographic Jan. 37 (caption) A hardy rafter braves an invigorating dunk in the glacier-fed waters of the Tatshenshini River.
2013 L. L. Peterson Devil's Interval xxii. 177 I..poured the hot water into the cup, gave the teabag a perfunctory dunk or two, and took a sip.
2. Basketball. A shot made by jumping up and pushing the ball downward into the basket with the hand or hands above the rim. Cf. earlier dunk shot n. at Compounds; see also slam dunk n. 1.Recorded earliest as a modifier.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > ball game > basketball > [noun] > goal > types of goal
bank shot1859
field goal1896
dunk shot1940
tap-in1948
dunk1957
tip-in1958
slam dunk1969
put-back1980
1957 Cedar Rapids (Iowa) Gaz. 24 Mar. iv. 2/2 He blew ten chances and had a dunk attempt bounce high off the rim.
1959 A. Baraka in J. Fles Trembling Lamb 45 Ray & Sess done formal, as they are, floating in for the easy dunk.
1979 Time 13 Aug. 34/1 Herb Williams, 21, a forward from Ohio State, slammed home a fearsome dunk against Yugoslavia and shattered the backboard in the process.
2011 N.Y. Times Mag. 13 Mar. 28/2 Jones can dribble the ball from the end line, cross half court with a full head of steam, take one more dribble and get to the rim for a dunk.
Compounds
dunk contest n. Basketball a contest in which people compete to perform the most impressive dunks.Chiefly with reference to a specific contest held annually for invited professional players by the National Basketball Association in North America.
ΚΠ
1977 Washington Post 4 Jan. c2/3 A dunk contest is not a dunk contest without the Doctor and Thompson.
1996 Civilization Mar. 49/2 Basketball's Brahmins—the coaches, players and sportswriters who recall the days before dunk contests and Nike commercials.
2010 K. Armstrong & N. Perry Scoreboard, Baby xvii. 173 I watched him in a dunk contest... He was doing 360s; tomahawk dunks. His head was up by the rim.
dunk shot n. Basketball a shot made by jumping up and pushing the ball downward into the basket with the hand or hands above the rim; = sense 2.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > ball game > basketball > [noun] > goal > types of goal
bank shot1859
field goal1896
dunk shot1940
tap-in1948
dunk1957
tip-in1958
slam dunk1969
put-back1980
1940 Emporia (Kansas) Gaz. 23 Mar. 5/1 Bob Kinney..sneaked behind the defense for easy ‘dunk’ shots.
1979 J. Abrahams et al. Airplane! (film shooting script) (O.E.D. Archive) 40 (stage direct.) Native examines basketball for first time. After two slow dribbles, he gracefully feints lefts, then, dribbling through his legs, sinks a two-hand, over-the-head, reverse dunk shot.
2014 Greeley (Colorado) Tribune (Nexis) 14 Feb. Barden then slammed home a dunk shot on a pass from Unruh and freshman guard Jordan Wilson drained two key free throws.
dunk tank n. originally U.S. an attraction at a fairground, fund-raising event, etc., at which contestants throw balls at a target, with the aim of triggering a mechanism that causes a seated person to drop into a tank of water (or occasionally some other liquid).
ΚΠ
1950 Albany (Oregon) Democrat-Herald 12 Dec. (91st Anniv. ed.) (Sweet Home section) 9/4 During Sweet Home Frontier Days, the club had a ‘dunk tank’ at the concession grounds and all funds were turned over to the swimming pool fund.
1986 L. Erdrich Beet Queen (1989) iv. xiv. 310 The Lion's Club had constructed a dunk tank as a community fund-raising device.
2007 D. Grassi Bumping into God in Kitchen xiii. 88 It was an old-fashioned dunk tank... Contestants..had bought three balls for a dollar in hopes of hitting the bull's-eye and dropping the jeering person in the tank into the water.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2018; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
dunkv.
/dʌŋk/, U.S. /dəŋk/ Originally U.S.
I. To dip, immerse.
1. To dip a biscuit, pastry, piece of bread, etc., into tea, coffee, milk, soup, etc., to moisten it before eating it. Also: to dip a piece of food into a sauce, dressing, or dip.
a. intransitive.
ΚΠ
1917 N.Y. Tribune 26 Sept. 9/1 The first person we see dunking we shall apprehend as a German spy.
1919 Quill Feb. 15 Those who had avoided public dunking through over-anxiety always to do the right thing, may dunkfreely and openly.
1973 Good Housek. Apr. 161/1 Peel delicious Dole bananas and watch your kids dunk away. Use chocolate and caramel, instant cocoa and frosting, sugar and spice and anything nice.
2008 Sun (Nexis) 14 June The survey of 5,000 people..found 60 per cent like to dunk.
b. transitive with the item of food that is dipped as object. Often with in.
ΚΠ
1926 L. Hart Six Little Kitzels in D. Hart & R. Kimball Compl. Lyrics L. Hart (1986) 100/2 They served the dinner from a buffet; I dunked my cracker in the kuffey.
1931 Daily Progress (Charlottesville, Va.) 21 Feb. 10 The pone should be ‘dunked’ in the likker.
1951 Gourmet July 51/1 To enjoy biscotti all'anaci properly, you should dunk them, neatly but thoroughly, in hot coffee.
1989 J. Galloway Trick is to keep Breathing (1991) 22 She was dunking a gingernut. I watched her hand rocking back and forth, getting the saturation just right.
1995 Mail on Sunday (Nexis) 4 June 15 Sitting opposite me in a Notting Hill pub, dunking chips in ketchup and drinking beer from the bottle.
2010 New Yorker 22 Nov. 93/1 You bite the Tim Tam, and then you dunk it in the tea, and then you suck the tea from it, and it goes all mushy in your mouth.
2.
a. transitive. To immerse in water or another liquid, typically for a brief period of time; to dip (something) in a liquid or a granular or powdery substance, esp. so as to coat it.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > food > consumption of food or drink > eating > processes or manners of eating > eat via specific process [verb (transitive)] > dip food into beverage
dunk1935
1935 M. Anderson Winterset iii. 123 He's dunked for good this time.
1940 in Amer. Speech (1941) 16 147/2 Dunk your nylons in rich suds of neutral soap.
1956 O. Welles Mr. Arkadin ii. viii. 173 The servant brought in some oranges dunked in powdered sugar.
1971 Nature 26 Feb. 597/1 But the possibility that the RNA picks up basic proteins when dunked in the cytoplasm cannot be disregarded.
1988 M. Morpurgo My Friend Walter (1989) viii. 110 We dunked our feet and hands in the water trough in the cow yard and dabbled them till they were clean again.
2004 Boys Toys July 67/3 Another classic technique that works well is to dunk the camera then take a standard above water shot to give a slightly blurred, washed effect (due to the water on the lens).
b. transitive. North American. To push the head and shoulders of (a person) under water, esp. as a joke or prank.In quot. 1936 with reference to polar bears playing with each other in a zoo.
ΘΚΠ
the world > movement > motion in a certain direction > downward motion > descend [verb (transitive)] > plunge (a person or thing) momentarily
beduck1590
dunk1936
1936 San Mateo (Calif.) Times 19 Sept. 5 a/1 It was great sport to watch the two bears dunking each other in the chill waters of the pool, diving for scraps of food and making playful passes at each other.
1938 Orlando (Florida) Morning Sentinel 1 June 8/2 One of the liveliest, friendliest scraps of the collegiate year was staged down on the lakefront Monday morning... Bill Twitchell, Al Swann, Rick Gillespie, Ollie Daugherty..punched, squirmed and dunked each other until they were exhausted.
1959 A. M. Stein Never need Enemy xiii. 189 After I'd dunked him some, though, he came up sputtering.
2017 J. Han Always & Forever, Lara Jean xxiii. 187 ‘Don't you dare dunk me,’ I warn. Peter starts circling me like a shark.
3. transitive. With into or in. To plunge (a person) suddenly into a particular condition or state of affairs; to immerse (oneself) in a situation or activity.Originally and frequently in extended metaphorical use of sense 2.
ΚΠ
1937 Ann. Amer. Acad. Polit. & Soc. Sci. 193 77 Consider..the perpetration of peculiar brands of ‘economic pot-liquor’ into which are ‘dunked’ the victims of the catastrophe that enveloped the country.
1951 M. McLuhan Mech. Bride 4/2 The same man would rather dunk himself in the newspaper than have any esthetic or intellectual grasp of its character and meaning.
1973 Texas Stud. Lit. & Lang. 14 715 He criticizes in medias res stories for dunking the weak-hearted reader too swiftly into the stream of the story.
2006 Focus Nov. 89/4 The violent death of a museum curator swiftly dunks a pair of 2D characters..into the mother of all conspiracy theories.
II. Basketball.
4.
a. transitive. To jump up and thrust (the ball) downward into the basket with the hand or hands above the rim; to score (a basket or points) in this way.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > ball game > basketball > play basketball [verb (transitive)] > score goal by dunking
dunk1934
slam-dunk1969
1934 Amarillo (Texas) Sunday News-Globe 7 Jan. 6/2 Duncan pivoted, raised the ball on one hand and dunked it through the hoop for the winning points.
1934 Bee (Danville, Va.) 9 Mar. 10/7 Wynn, the alert guard,..gained 48 points, and Harvey his co-partner at guard, dunked 32 points.
1992 Olympics 92 (BBC Sports) 59/4 Sash Belov..pushed past two defenders and dunked the winning basket.
2013 N.Y. Times (National ed.) 10 Mar. (Sports section) 4/1 I caught the ball on the dotted line and dunked it and the crowd went crazy.
b. intransitive. To score by jumping up and thrusting the ball down through the basket with the hand or hands above the rim.
ΚΠ
1954 Akron (Ohio) Beacon Jrnl. 25 Feb. 26/8 He could have had more. Instead he passed off when he could have jumped and dunked.
1988 S. Paretsky Toxic Shock (1990) xxi. 160 He'd taught us how to fade, how to fake the pass then turn and dunk, and I'd won the game in the last seconds with just that move.
2016 Daily Oklahoman (Nexis) 5 Nov. (Sports section) Grant was looking to dunk at every opportunity.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2018; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1932v.1917