bunch
UK /bʌntʃ/ · US /bʌnt͡ʃ/ noun, verb, proper noun
Forms bunches bunching bunched
- noun (collective) A group of similar things, either growing together, or in a cluster or clump, usually fastened together. “a bunch of grapes”
- noun (cycling, collective) The peloton; the main group of riders formed during a race.
- noun (collective) An informal body of friends. “He still hangs out with the same bunch.”
- noun (US, informal) A considerable amount. “a bunch of trouble”
- noun (informal) An unmentioned amount; a number. “A bunch of them went down to the field.”
- noun (forestry) A group of logs tied together for skidding.
- noun (geology, mining) An unusual concentration of ore in a lode or a small, discontinuous occurrence or patch of ore in the wallrock.
- noun (textiles) The reserve yarn on the filling bobbin to allow continuous weaving between the time of indication from the midget feeler until a new bobbin is put in the shuttle.
- verb (transitive) To gather into a bunch.
- verb (transitive) To gather fabric into folds.
- verb (intransitive) To form a bunch.
- verb (intransitive) To be gathered together in folds
- verb (intransitive) To protrude or swell
- proper noun A surname.
- proper noun An unincorporated community and census-designated place in Adair County, Oklahoma, United States, named after Cherokee Rabbit Bunch.
Synonyms
cluster group pack gang circle ore pocket pocket pocket of ore kidney nest nest of ore ore bunch bunch of ore clump clustering crowd crew lot caboodle bunch together bunch up bundle
Etymology
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 𒉺𒀭𒆪𒍑 (/pankuš/, “total, entire”), Tocharian B pkante (“volume, fatness”), Lithuanian búožė (“knob”), Ancient Greek παχύς (pakhús, “thick”), Sanskrit बहु (bahú, “thick; much”)).
Alternatively, perhaps from a variant or diminutive of bump (compare hump/hunch, lump/lunch, etc.); or from dialectal Old French bonge (“bundle”) (compare French bongeau, bonjeau, bonjot), from West Flemish bondje, diminutive of West Flemish bond (“bundle”).
Webster’s 1913
- noun A protuberance; a hunch; a knob or lump; a hump.
- noun A collection, cluster, or tuft, properly of things of the same kind, growing or fastened together; as, a bunch of grapes; a bunch of keys.
- verb To swell out into a bunch or protuberance; to be protuberant or round.
- verb To form into a bunch or bunches.
Etymology [Akin to OSw. & Dan. bunke heap, Icel. bunki heap, pile, bunga tumor, protuberance; cf. W. pwng cluster. Cf. Bunk.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “bunch”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details