bunch

== English == === Etymology === From Middle English bunche, bonche (“hump, swelling”), of uncertain origin. Perhaps a variant of *bunge (compare dialectal bung (“heap, grape bunch”)), from Proto-Germanic *bunkō, *bunkô, *bungǭ (“heap, crowd”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰenǵʰ-, *bʰénǵʰus (“thick, dense, fat”). Cognates include Saterland Frisian Bunke (“bone”), West Frisian bonke (“bone, lump, bump”), Dutch bonk (“lump, bone”), Low German Bunk (“bone”), German Bunge (“tuber”), Danish bunke (“heap, pile”), Faroese bunki (“heap, pile”); Hittite [Term?] (/⁠panku⁠/, “total, entire”), Tocharian B pkante (“volume, fatness”), Lithuanian búožė (“knob”), Ancient Greek παχύς (pakhús, “thick”), Sanskrit बहु (bahú, “thick; much”)). Alternatively, perhaps from a variant or diminutive of bump (compare hump/hunch, lump/lunch, etc.); or from dialectal Old French bonge (“bundle”) (compare French bongeau, bonjeau, bonjot), from West Flemish bondje, diminutive of West Flemish bond (“bundle”). === Pronunciation === (UK) IPA(key): /bʌntʃ/, /bʌnʃ/ (US) IPA(key): /bʌnt͡ʃ/ Rhymes: -ʌntʃ === Noun === bunch (plural bunches) A group of similar things, either growing together, or in a cluster or clump, usually fastened together. (cycling) The peloton; the main group of riders formed during a race. An informal body of friends. (US, informal) A considerable amount. (informal) An unmentioned amount; a number. (forestry) A group of logs tied together for skidding. (geology, mining) An unusual concentration of ore in a lode or a small, discontinuous occurrence or patch of ore in the wallrock. (textiles) The reserve yarn on the filling bobbin to allow continuous weaving between the time of indication from the midget feeler until a new bobbin is put in the shuttle. (smoking) An unfinished cigar, before the wrapper leaf is added. A protuberance; a hunch; a knob or lump; a hump. (glassblowing, obsolete) A seventeenth-century unit of Rhenish glass, 60 of which constitute a way or web. ==== Synonyms ==== (group of similar things): cluster, group (informal body of friends): pack, group, gang, circle (unusual concentration of ore): ore pocket, pocket, pocket of ore, kidney, nest, nest of ore, ore bunch, bunch of ore ==== Derived terms ==== ==== Translations ==== === Verb === bunch (third-person singular simple present bunches, present participle bunching, simple past and past participle bunched) (transitive) To gather into a bunch. (transitive) To gather fabric into folds. (intransitive) To form a bunch. (intransitive) To be gathered together in folds (intransitive) To protrude or swell ==== Synonyms ==== (form a bunch): cluster, group ==== Derived terms ==== ==== Translations ====