From Middle English *bangen, from Old English *bangian or borrowed from Old Norse banga (“to pound, hammer”); both from Proto-Germanic *bangōną (“to beat, pound”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰen- (“to beat, hit, injure”). Cognate with Scots bang, bung (“to strike, bang, hurl, thrash, offend”), Icelandic banga (“to pound, hammer”), Old Swedish bånga ("to hammer"; whence modern Swedish banka (“to knock, pound, bang”)), Danish banke (“to beat”), bengel (“club”), Low German bangen, bangeln (“to strike, beat”), West Frisian bingel, bongel, Dutch bengel (“bell; rascal”), German Bengel (“club”), bungen (“to throb, pulsate”). In the sense of a fringe of hair, from bang off. In the sense of abrupt left turn, from Boston left and associated risk of a crash.
When he struck it with a hammer, there was a loud bang.
A fiendish yell then followed / Ev'ry salvo's 'bang' and 'bloop'.1992, Bob Magor, Blood on the Board, page 39:
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A strike upon an object causing such a noise.
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An explosion.
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US, Archaic Synonym of bangs: hair hanging over the forehead, especially a hairstyle with such hair cut straight across.
Tiffany has long hair and bangs.
his hair cut in front like a young lady's bang1880, William Dean Howells, The Undiscovered Country:
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She was not much to look at. Her red hair hung in an uncurled bang over her forehead1902, Barbara Baynton, Squeaker's Mate; reprinted in Carmel Bird, editor, The Penguin Century of Australian Stories, 2000, →ISBN:
An e-mail address with an ! is called a bang path.
Incidentally, a useful abbreviation for "Exclamation point" is "Bang."1980, C.W. Wilkinson, Peter H. Clarke, Dorothy C.M. Wilkinson, Communicating through Letters and Reports, 7th edition, page 651:
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Mathematics, Sciences A factorial, in mathematics, because the factorial of n is often written as n!
Of course, I take a bang or some mud in coffee now and then, and I pick up on gage right smart.1951 December 20, William S. Burroughs, “To Allen Ginsberg”, in Oliver Harris, editor, The Letters of William S. Burroughs, 1945–1959, New York: Penguin, published 1993, →ISBN, page 98:
As for myself, I take a bang now and then—I know plenty of croakers—but I really couldn't keep up a habit without a lot of running around and bother.1952 January 19, William S. Burroughs, “To Allen Ginsberg”, in Oliver Harris, editor, The Letters of William S. Burroughs, 1945–1959, New York: Penguin, published 1993, →ISBN, page 101:
I hate the movies like poison, but I get a bang imitating them.1951 July 16, J[erome] D[avid] Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye, Boston, Mass.: Little, Brown and Company, →OCLC, page 38:
"We all know you give great parties, Mr. Lippincott." "It gives me a bang, even a bigger bang than this," Mr. Lippincott said, indicating his drink and then finishing it.1993, Douglas Woolf, Sandra Braman, Hypocritic Days & Other Tales, page 40:
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Yes, he got a bang out of cheating Rollo.2000, James Hadley Chase, Make the Corpse Walk, page 31:
From Middle English *bangen, from Old English *bangian or borrowed from Old Norse banga (“to pound, hammer”); both from Proto-Germanic *bangōną (“to beat, pound”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰen- (“to beat, hit, injure”). Cognate with Scots bang, bung (“to strike, bang, hurl, thrash, offend”), Icelandic banga (“to pound, hammer”), Old Swedish bånga ("to hammer"; whence modern Swedish banka (“to knock, pound, bang”)), Danish banke (“to beat”), bengel (“club”), Low German bangen, bangeln (“to strike, beat”), West Frisian bingel, bongel, Dutch bengel (“bell; rascal”), German Bengel (“club”), bungen (“to throb, pulsate”). In the sense of a fringe of hair, from bang off. In the sense of abrupt left turn, from Boston left and associated risk of a crash.
To make sudden loud noises, and often repeatedly, especially by exploding or hitting something.
The fireworks banged away all through the night.
Stop banging on the door. I heard you the first time!
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My head was banging after drinking all night at the concert.
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Ambitransitive To hit hard.
He banged the door shut.
David and Mary banged into each other.
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The desperate tempest hath so banged the Turks.c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Othello, the Moore of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i]:
Ivor had acquired more than a mile of fishing rights with the house; he was not at all a good fisherman, but one must do something; one generally, however, banged a ball with a squash-racket against a wall.1922, Michael Arlen, “3/19/2”, in “Piracy”: A Romantic Chronicle of These Days:
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Ambitransitive, Slang, Vulgar To engage in sexual intercourse.
We can hear the couple banging upstairs.
It's also my job to take care of the skanks on the road that you bang.1996, Cameron Crowe, Jerry Maguire, spoken by Bob Sugar (Jay Mohr), Culver City, Calif.: TriStar Pictures; distributed by Columbia TriStar Home Video, published 1997, →ISBN:
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Moe Greene: He was banging cocktail waitresses two at a time!1972, Mario Puzo, Francis Ford Coppola, The Godfather:
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With "in" To hammer or to hit anything hard.
Hold the picture while I bang in this nail.
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To cut squarely across, as the tail of a horse, or a person's forelock; to cut (the hair).
His hair banged even with his eyebrows.c. 1883, Frank Hamilton Cushing, Becomin a Zuni:
This accompt has been made to appear a bull accompt, i.e. that the bulls cannot take their stock. The fact is the reverse; it is a bear accompt, but the bears, unable to deliver their stock, have conjointly banged the market, and pocketed the tickets, to defeat the rise and loss that would have ensued to them by their buying on a rising price on the accompt day […]1821, Bank of England, The Bank - The Stock Exchange - The Bankers ..., page 64:
[…] the London "Bears" have promptly banged the market again […]1902, Truth, volume 50, page 1138:
Nigeria, Slang To fail, especially an exam; to flunk.
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New England, Slang To make a turn in a vehicle; to hang a right, left, or uey.
Bang a right at the next stoplight.
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US, Slang To gangbang; to participate in street gang criminal activity.
You know I still bang.
bang
adv
Etymology
From Middle English *bangen, from Old English *bangian or borrowed from Old Norse banga (“to pound, hammer”); both from Proto-Germanic *bangōną (“to beat, pound”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰen- (“to beat, hit, injure”). Cognate with Scots bang, bung (“to strike, bang, hurl, thrash, offend”), Icelandic banga (“to pound, hammer”), Old Swedish bånga ("to hammer"; whence modern Swedish banka (“to knock, pound, bang”)), Danish banke (“to beat”), bengel (“club”), Low German bangen, bangeln (“to strike, beat”), West Frisian bingel, bongel, Dutch bengel (“bell; rascal”), German Bengel (“club”), bungen (“to throb, pulsate”). In the sense of a fringe of hair, from bang off. In the sense of abrupt left turn, from Boston left and associated risk of a crash.
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Right, directly.
The passenger door was bang against the garage wall.
After yet another missed penalty by Kvirikashvili from bang in front of the posts, England scored again, centre Tuilagi flying into the line and touching down under the bar.2011 September 18, Ben Dirs, “Rugby World Cup 2011: England 41-10 Georgia”, in BBC Sport:
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Precisely.
He arrived bang on time.
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With a sudden impact.
Distracted, he ran bang into the opening door.
bang
intj
Etymology
From Middle English *bangen, from Old English *bangian or borrowed from Old Norse banga (“to pound, hammer”); both from Proto-Germanic *bangōną (“to beat, pound”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰen- (“to beat, hit, injure”). Cognate with Scots bang, bung (“to strike, bang, hurl, thrash, offend”), Icelandic banga (“to pound, hammer”), Old Swedish bånga ("to hammer"; whence modern Swedish banka (“to knock, pound, bang”)), Danish banke (“to beat”), bengel (“club”), Low German bangen, bangeln (“to strike, beat”), West Frisian bingel, bongel, Dutch bengel (“bell; rascal”), German Bengel (“club”), bungen (“to throb, pulsate”). In the sense of a fringe of hair, from bang off. In the sense of abrupt left turn, from Boston left and associated risk of a crash.
1
A sudden percussive sound, such as made by the firing of a gun, slamming of a door, etc.
He pointed his finger at her like a gun and said, “Bang!”
Bang! Away he goes with a mighty bound. Leo has missed him. Bang! right under him again. Now for a shot. I must have one, though he is going like an arrow, and a hundred yards away and more.1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC:
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“Just like parade it had been a minute before then stumble, bang, swish! Wiped out!” he said.1898, H.G. Wells, The War of the Worlds, London: William Heinemann, page 84:
Serve him right. Transgression—punishment—bang! Pitiless, pitiless.1899 February, Joseph Conrad, “The Heart of Darkness”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume CLXV, number M, New York, N.Y.: The Leonard Scott Publishing Company, […], →OCLC, part I, page 215:
We help to kill the bloody bandits. Bang, bang, bang.1956, Anthony Burgess, Time for a Tiger (The Malayan Trilogy), published 1972, page 17: