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wonk - 3 dictionary results

wonk

  [wongk]
Use wonk in a Sentence
–noun Slang.
1. a student who spends much time studying and has little or no social life; grind.
2. a stupid, boring, or unattractive person.
3. a person who studies a subject or issue in an excessively assiduous and thorough manner: a policy wonk.
Origin:
1960–65, Americanism; of expressive orig.; nautical slang wonk “a midshipman,” Australian slang: “white person, homosexual” are prob. independent formations
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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wonk   (wŏngk)   
n.   Slang
  1. A student who studies excessively; a grind.
  2. One who studies an issue or a topic thoroughly or excessively: "leading a talkathon of policy wonks in a methodical effort to build consensus for his programs" (Michael Kranish).

[Origin unknown.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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wonk 
"overly studious person," 1954, Amer.Eng. student slang, popularized 1993 during Clinton administration in U.S.; perhaps a shortening of Brit. slang wonky "shaky, unreliable" (1919), which perhaps is from Ger. wankel- or from from surviving dialectal words based on O.E. wancol "shaky, tottering" (see wench). Or perhaps a variant of Brit. slang wanker "masturbator." It was earlier British naval slang for "midshipman" (1929).
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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