bunker

noun

1. A hardened shelter, often partly buried or fully underground, designed to protect the inhabitants from falling bombs or other attacks.

   “The military built a bunker to help evacuate the citizens safely from the bombings.”

2. A compartment for storing coal for the ship's boilers; or a tank for storing fuel oil for the ship's engines.
3. The coal compartment on a tank engine; it can also refer to that on a tender engine.

   “Among tank engines, the 0-6-2 wheel arrangement was by far the most numerous, there being nearly 450 of this arrangement, which offers the advantage of good power and adhesive weight, coupled with adequate tank and bunker capacity, within a limited compass.”

   “The bunkers of these engines hold enough coal for one round journey of 120½ miles, and water is taken in each direction at Hexham.”

   “The superstructure of the tender is modified by the removal of the side raves, and compartments for the fire-irons are formed on each side of the coal bunker.”

4. (abbreviation, alt-of, ellipsis)Ellipsis of bunker oil (usually plural).

   “The vessel is taking on bunkers.”

5. A hazard on a golf course consisting of a sand-filled hollow.

   “[Letter X, page 204] At length I came within sight of them, three in number, where they sat cosily niched, into what you might call a bunker, a little sand-pit, dry and snug, and surrounded by its banks, and a screen of whins in full bloom. […] [Letter XI, page 223] And are ye in the wont of drawing up wi' all the gangrel bodies that ye meet on the high road, or find cowering in a sand-bunker upon the links?”

6. An obstacle used to block an opposing player's view and field of fire.
7. (British, historical)A large bin or container for storing coal, often built outdoors in the yard of a house.

   “There used to be a coal bunker at the back of the house - it was demolished years ago.”

8. (Scotland)A sort of box or chest, as in a window, the lid of which serves as a seat.

   “A winnock-bunker in the eaſt, / There ſat auld Nick, in ſhape o' beaſt; […]”

   “There was no seat accommodated him so well as the "bunker" at Woodend, and no face he loved so much to gaze on as Jeanie Deans's.”

9. (Scotland, slang)A kitchen worktop.
10. (British, India, slang)One who bunks off; a truant from school.
11. (US, regional)The menhaden, any of several species of fish in the genera Brevoortia and Ethmidium.

    “Ten hours of footage revealed the young [shark's] habits, such as diving for squid up to 150 feet deep, then moving closer to shore to feast on huge schools of bunker fish.”

verb

1. (transitive)To load (a vessel) with coal or fuel oil for the engine.
2. (intransitive)To take a load of coal or fuel oil for its engine.
3. (Nigeria, transitive)To steal bunker fuel by illicitly siphoning it off.
4. (transitive)To hit (a golf ball) into a bunker; (chiefly passive voice) to place (a golfer) in the position of having a golf ball in a bunker.
5. (UK, idiomatic, informal, transitive)To hit (a golf ball) into a bunker; (chiefly passive voice) to place (a golfer) in the position of having a golf ball in a bunker.

   “Proteus. Or we resign and tell the country that we cant carry on the King's Government under conditions which destroy our responsibility. / Balbus. Thatll do it. He couldnt face that. / Crassus. Yes: thatll bunker him.”

6. (transitive)To fire constantly at (an opponent hiding behind an obstacle), trapping them and preventing them from firing at other players; also, to eliminate (an opponent behind an obstacle) by rushing to the position and firing at extremely close range as the player becomes exposed.
7. (intransitive)Often followed by down: to take shelter in a bunker or other place.

   “As troops swarmed the streets below and gun battles continued to rage, I bunkered in a room on the top floor of a building in the middle of the red zone. Redshirt spokesman Sean Boonpracong sought refuge there too. Protesters burned a train station below, hurling tyres on to an already roaring blaze across the tracks.”

   “More than 10,000 people were bunkering in 20 emergency shelters across the disaster zone, not all of them cyclone-rated.”

   “The Kyiv Zoo staff and their families are bunkering at the zoo as they care for the animals housed there amid the war in Ukraine.”

name

1. A surname.