Nearby Words

bangs

[bangz] Origin

Bangs

[bangz]
noun
John Ken·drick [ken-drik] , 1862–1922, U.S. humorist.
Dictionary.com Unabridged

bang

1[bang]
noun
1.
a loud, sudden, explosive noise, as the discharge of a gun.
2.
a resounding stroke or blow: a nasty bang on the head.
3.
Informal. a sudden movement or show of energy: He started with a bang.
4.
energy; vitality; spirit: The bang has gone out of my work.
5.
Informal. sudden or intense pleasure; thrill; excitement: a big bang out of seeing movies.
EXPAND
6.
Slang: Vulgar. sexual intercourse.
7.
Printing and Computer Slang. an exclamation point.
COLLAPSE
verb (used with object)
8.
to strike or beat resoundingly; pound: to bang a door.
9.
to hit or bump painfully: to bang one's ankle on a chair leg.
10.
to throw or set down roughly; slam: He banged the plates on the table.
11.
Slang: Vulgar. to have sexual intercourse with.
verb (used without object)
12.
to strike violently or noisily: to bang on the door.
13.
to make a loud, sudden, explosive noise like that of a violent blow: The guns banged all night.
14.
Slang: Vulgar. to have sexual intercourse.
adverb
15.
suddenly and loudly; abruptly or violently: She fell bang against the wall.
16.
directly; precisely; right: He stood bang in the middle of the flower bed.
17.
bang into, to collide with; bump into: The truck skidded on the ice and banged into a parked car.
18.
bang up, to damage: A passing car banged up our fender.
19.
bang off, Chiefly British Slang. immediately; right away.
20.
bang on, Chiefly British Slang. terrific; marvelous; just right: That hat is absolutely bang on.

Origin:
1540–50; 1930–35 for def. 5; compare Old Norse banga to beat, hammer, Low German bangen to strike, beat, German dialect banken; perhaps orig. imitative


2. smack, clout, box, wallop, sock, bash, cuff.

bang

2[bang]
noun
1.
Often, bangs. a fringe of hair combed or brushed forward over the forehead.
verb (used with object)
2.
to cut (the hair) so as to form a fringe over the forehead.
3.
to dock (the tail of a horse or dog).

Origin:
1860–65, Americanism; short for bangtail

bang

3[bang]
noun
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Etymonline
Word Origin & History

bang
1540s, "to strike hard with a loud blow," from O.N. banga "to pound, hammer" of echoic origin. Slang meaning "have sexual intercourse with" first recorded 1937. Bang-up "excellent, first-rate," 1820, probably shortened from phrase bang up to the mark.
EXPAND
"This is the way the world ends
Not with a bang but a whimper"

[T.S. Eliot, "Hollow Men," 1925]

bangs
"hair cut straight across the forehead," 1878 (sing.), Amer.Eng., 1870 of horses (bang-tail), perhaps from notion of abruptness (cf. bang off "immediately, without delay," though this expression is attested only from 1886). See bang.
COLLAPSE
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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American Heritage
Medical Dictionary

Bang (bāng, bäng), Bernhard Lauritz Frederik. 1848-1932.

Danish veterinarian who discovered Brucella abortus, the agent of brucellosis in cattle and of undulant fever in humans.

The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
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Slang Dictionary

bang definition


  1. n.
    a bit of excitement; a thrill; some amusement. : We got a bang out of your letter.
  2. n.
    the degree of potency of the alcohol in liquor. : This stuff has quite a bang!
  3. n.
    an injection of a drug; any dose of a drug. (Drugs.) : If Albert doesn't have a bang by noon, he gets desperate.
Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
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