dunk
nounEtymology From Pennsylvania German dunke, from Middle High German dunken, from Old High German dunkōn (“to dip, submerge, dunk”), from Proto-West Germanic *þunkōn (“to make wet”), possibly from Proto-Germanic *þunkōną, from Proto-Indo-European *teng- (“to moisten, wet”). Cognate with German tunken (“to dunk”), Latin tingō (“to wet, moisten”), Ancient Greek τέγγω (téngō, “to wet, moisten”). Related to taint, tincture, tint.
1
The act or instance of dunking, particularly in basketball.
- The point guard threaded a pass with pinpoint precision to the power forward for an easy dunk.
- She gave the biscuit a dunk in her cup of milk.
1 more example
- To rattle the rats to the point where their stress response remained demonstrably hyperactive, the researchers exposed the animals to four weeks of varying stressors: moderate electric shocks, being encaged with dominant rats, prolonged dunks in water.2009 August 18, Natalie Angier, “Brain Is a Co-Conspirator in a Vicious Stress Loop”, in New York Times:
- Derived terms
- dunkable, dunker, dunkfest, dunk shot, dunk tank, mosquito dunk, reverse dunk, slam dunk, thunderdunk