bang
nounverbadverbinterjectionnouncommon in dialogue
- United Kingdom//ˈbaŋ//
- United States//ˈbæŋ//
- United States/[ˈbæŋ]/
- //ˈbaŋ//
- //ˈbaŋɡ//
A sudden percussive noise.
noun
- 1
A sudden percussive noise.
When he struck it with a hammer, there was a loud bang.
A fiendish yell then followed / Ev'ry salvo's 'bang' and 'bloop'.
- 2
A strike upon an object causing such a noise.
- 3
An explosion.
- 4
archaicSynonym 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 bang
She was not much to look at. Her red hair hung in an uncurled bang over her forehead
- 5
The symbol !, known as an exclamation point.
An e-mail address with an ! is called a bang path.
Incidentally, a useful abbreviation for "Exclamation point" is "Bang."
- 6
A factorial, in mathematics, because the factorial of n is often written as n!
- 7
slangAn act of sexual intercourse.
- 8
An offbeat figure typical of reggae songs and played on guitar and piano.
- 9
slangAn explosive product.
Load the bang into the hole.
- 10
slangAn injection, a shot (of a narcotic drug).
Of course, I take a bang or some mud in coffee now and then, and I pick up on gage right smart.
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.
- 11
slangAn abrupt left turn.
- 12
slangstrong smell (of)
There was a bang of onions off his breath.
- 13
slangA thrill.
I hate the movies like poison, but I get a bang imitating them.
"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.
Yes, he got a bang out of cheating Rollo.
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.
verb
- 1
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!
My head was banging after drinking all night at the concert.
- 2
To hit hard.
He banged the door shut.
David and Mary banged into each other.
The desperate tempest hath so banged the Turks.
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.
- 3
To play a drum.
He banged his bongo in sync with the band.
- 4
slangTo 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.
Moe Greene: He was banging cocktail waitresses two at a time!
- 5
To hammer or to hit anything hard.
Hold the picture while I bang in this nail.
- 6
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.
- 7
slangTo inject intravenously.
Do you smoke meth? No, I bang it.
- 8
datedTo depress the prices in (a market).
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 […]
[…] the London "Bears" have promptly banged the market again […]
- 9
obsoleteTo excel or surpass.
- 10
slangTo be excellent; to be banging
This song bangs!
- 11
slangTo fail, especially an exam; to flunk.
- 12
slangTo make a turn in a vehicle; to hang a right, left, or uey.
Bang a right at the next stoplight.
- 13
slangTo gangbang; to participate in street gang criminal activity.
You know I still bang.
- 14
To play a sport aggressively.
adverb
- 1
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.
- 2
Precisely.
He arrived bang on time.
- 3
With a sudden impact.
Distracted, he ran bang into the opening door.
interjection
- 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.
“Just like parade it had been a minute before then stumble, bang, swish! Wiped out!” he said.
Serve him right. Transgression—punishment—bang! Pitiless, pitiless.
noun
- 1
Variant of bhangarchaicArchaic spelling of bhang.
Forms
- plural
- bangs
- comparative
- more bang
- superlative
- most bang
- past tense
- banged
- past participle
- banged
- present participle
- banging
- third person singular
- bangs