† Dunkern.1
Obsolete.
A privateer operating from the port of Dunkirk, esp. in the service of the Habsburg monarchy during the Eighty Years' War (1568–1648); a ship commanded and crewed by privateers of this kind; = Dunkirker n. Cf. Dunkirk n. 1.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > travel by water > vessel, ship, or boat > privateer or pirate ship > [noun] > privateer
Dunkirker1588
Dunkirk1599
she-Dunkirk1623
Dunker1630
privateer?1641
private man of war1646
caper1657
letter(s) of mart ship1695
caperera1698
letter of marque ship1703
letter(s) of mart man1704
letter of marque1768
shaving-mill1781
ship-privateer1799
sea-wolf1884
1630 Contin. Remarkable Occurences of Newes 8 Spaine shall set forth 80 Ships, and the Dunkers, Portugals and Biscayers 40.
1631 C. Fitzgeffry Curse Corne-horders i. 14 Suffered to be a prey to Dunkers abroad, and to as bad at home.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2018).
Dunkern.2
/ˈdʌŋkə/, U.S. /ˈdəŋkər//ˈtʌŋkə(r)/, 1700s– Dunker. A member of a Protestant sect, founded in Germany in 1708 but living in the United States since the 1720s, who practise adult baptism by triple immersion (in the name of the Holy Trinity) and advocate simple living, pacifism, and non-resistance. Cf. Dunkard n.Historically known as the German Baptist Brethren, the Dunkers underwent a major schism in the 1880s, leading to the formation of various groups, the largest of which has been called the Church of the Brethren since 1908.
ΘΚΠ
society > faith > sect > Christianity > Protestantism > Baptists > sects and groups > [noun] > Dunkard
Dunker1744
Dunkard1750
tumbler1796
1744 W. Marshe Jrnl. in Coll. Mass. Hist. Soc. (1801) 1st Ser. VII. 181 After breakfast, the Governor..and several other gentlemen, went to the Dunker's nunnery.
1755 A. Stephen Let. 6 Nov. in G. Washington Papers (1983) II. 157 The fighting Faction in Pennsyla..threaten to put to Death all the Nonresistants—Dunkers, Moravians, Dutch and Quakers.
1783 Act to raise Supplies for Year 1783 (Maryland Gen. Ass.) 14 Some of the people called quakers, menonists, or dunkers, are principled against bearing arms in any case.
1855 H. Melville Israel Potter ix. 59 Ah, what's this Poor Richard says: ‘God helps them that help themselves.’ Let's consider that. Poor Richard ain't a Dunker, that's certain.
1886 J. H. Blunt Dict. Sects 602/1 Settlements were formed by the emigration of married Tunkers to other parts.
1940 H. E. Wildes Delaware vii. 85 The vegetarian Dunkers whose black beards hung raggedly over their long white gowns..abhorred worldliness.
2005 Dayton (Ohio) Daily News (Nexis) 17 Aug. e4 This market is operated by the Landes family, who are German Baptist Brethren—known as Dunkers or Dunkards around here.
Compounds
attributive with the sense ‘of, relating to, or characteristic of the German Baptist Brethren or its members’, as Dunker Baptist, Dunker church, etc.Compare earlier attributive use of Dunkard n.
ΚΠ
1822 Pittsburgh Recorder 2 May 225/2 Those who call themselves Christians, & Dunker Baptists.
1842 Jonesborough (Tennessee) Whig 31 Aug. We were at the Dunker meeting on Sabbath last, and heard a sermon of near two hours length.
1863 Rep. Joint Comm. Conduct War (U.S. Congr.) 626 The third brigade was placed near the Dunker church on the field.
1877 ‘M. Twain’ Let. 25 Aug. (1917) I. 308 Aunty Cord is a violent Methodist and Lewis an implacable Dunker-Baptist.
1925 Yearbk. Church of Brethren 39/2 In the present great struggle for world reconstruction why should not ‘simple life’ Dunker doctrine mean as much to the religious world as such names as Ford, Hoover and Dawes mean to the business world?
2009 J. A. Coyne Why Evol. is True v. 134 One example of evolution by drift may be the unusual frequencies of blood types (as in the ABO system) in the Old Order Amish and Dunker religious communities in America.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2018; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
dunkern.3
/ˈdʌŋkə/, U.S. /ˈdəŋkər/ 1.
a. A person who likes to dunk food, esp. one who habitually dunks biscuits or pastries in tea, coffee, milk, etc.
ΚΠ
1919 Quill Feb. 16 It should be remembered that the really fastidious dunker never burns his thumb.
1931 San Antonio (Texas) Express 18 Feb. 5/2 Whether a Southerner should dunk or cumble his corn pone into potlikker tonight had become a heated controversy. Huey P. Long, Louisiana's Governor, and..champion of the dunkers, refused to recede from his stand.
1990 Toronto Star (Nexis) 20 June b1 The Italian bagna cauda is a dunker's dream. Raw vegetable chunks are plunged into warmed olive oil lusciously laced with garlic and anchovies.
2012 @goochjs 5 Nov. in twitter.com (O.E.D. Archive) Sod it. I dropped half a biscuit into my coffee, again. The perils of being an inveterate dunker.
b. A type of food, esp. a kind of biscuit or pastry, that is particularly suitable for dunking or tasty when dunked.
ΚΠ
1957 W. P. Young et al. Year Round Party Bk. (rev. ed.) 135 Bacon rinds, wide Fritos, or crackers will make fine dunkers.
1967 S. Afr. Sugar Jrnl. 51 1061/1 The following dunkers: potato crisps, corn chips, cream cracker biscuits, cheese straws, bread sticks, crisp vegetable sticks (celery, cucumber or carrot).
1992 Canad. Living Dec. 111 Long, crunchy and Italian, biscotti are double-baked to make them divine dunkers in a frothy cappuccino, creamy hot chocolate or steaming tea.
2017 i (Nexis) 22 May 2 Here are Britain's top 10 dunkers: 1. Digestive 38% 2. Rich Tea 18% 3. Bar of Chocolate 14% 4. Hobnob 11% 5. Ginger Nut 9% [etc.].
2. Basketball. A player who frequently or habitually scores by dunking the ball into the basket. Cf. dunk v. 4.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > ball game > basketball > [noun] > types of player
centre1893
guard1897
ball-handler1912
rebound man1922
rebounder1926
dunker1942
point1960
point guard1969
role-player1977
tweener1978
1942 N.Y. Times 12 Dec. 23 (heading) The Dunkers.
1955 New Amsterdam News 5 Mar. 27/4 A dunker of note, Reed has been described as having perpetually an aching arm—which aches from repeatedly crashing into the rim.
1994 Sports Illustr. 26 Dec. 49 He may not be ready to make an instructional video on low-post play yet, but he's more than just a dunker.
2017 Washington Post (Nexis) 9 Apr. d1 Opposing fans jeered him, accusing him of being a skilled dunker and nothing more.
3. Navy. A helicopter used to lower a sonar buoy into the sea to search for enemy submarines; a member of the helicopter crew who operates this equipment; (also) the sonar buoy deployed in this way.
ΚΠ
1954 Flight 16 July 72/2 (caption) Dunker/Killer. The Bell HSL-1 anti-submarine helicopter—shown hovering motionless in the act of ‘dunking’ its sonar detection equipment during tests near Fort Worth, Texas.
1960 Times 30 Nov. 13/6 In naval parlance a ‘dunker’ never becomes immersed except in dire emergency, and only a part of his equipment, in the form of a sonar buoy, is lowered into the sea. This is the device which enables the helicopter crew to ‘listen in’ for submarines.
1984 J. R. Hill Anti-submarine Warfare iv. 71/2 Even the new Helix, carried in the ‘Udaloy’ class ASW cruisers, appears to be essentially an active ‘dunker’.
2002 Jane's Navy Internat. July 20/1 The HELRAS will replace the L-3 AQS-18A medium-frequency ‘dunkers’ currently installed abroad the Turkish Navy's S-70Bs.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2018; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
<
n.11630
n.21744
n.31919