bang1

[bang] /bæŋ/
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.
6.
Slang: Vulgar. sexual intercourse.
7.
Printing and Computer Slang. an exclamation point.
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.
Verb phrases
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.
Idioms
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
Synonyms
2. smack, clout, box, wallop, sock, bash, cuff.

bang2

[bang] /bæŋ/
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

bang3

[bang] /bæŋ/
noun
1.
bhang.
Examples from the web for bang
  • With a loud bang he threw an empty box on the pile of rubbish in the hallway and then went heavily down the stairs.
  • Suddenly a bang rings out, and the image shakes vigorously as the cameraman runs for his life.
  • So don't bang your head on the office door trying to uncover what you did to create an enemy.
  • And the graduate training that produces our scientists encourages this whiz-bang number crunching and technology.
  • My discipline has not exactly done a bang-up job of promoting itself to the non-academic world.
  • Artillery pieces were hauled to the quayside to ensure things went off with a bang.
  • One explanation for their popularity is that investors get a big bang for their buck.
  • But when the universe began with a big bang, it started out with no elements at all.
  • The beginning of the universe in a fiery big bang was not even remotely suspected.
  • But on its own, the big bang theory would leave us in a curved universe where matter and energy aren't well mixed.
British Dictionary definitions for bang

bang1

/bæŋ/
noun
1.
a short loud explosive noise, as of the bursting of a balloon or the report of a gun
2.
a hard blow or knock, esp a noisy one; thump: he gave the ball a bang
3.
(informal) a startling or sudden effect: he realized with a bang that he was late
4.
(slang) an injection of heroin or other narcotic
5.
(taboo, slang) an act of sexual intercourse
6.
(US & Canadian, slang) get a bang out of, to experience a thrill or excitement from
7.
with a bang, successfully: the party went with a bang
verb
8.
to hit or knock, esp with a loud noise; bump: to bang one's head
9.
to move noisily or clumsily: to bang about the house
10.
to close (a door, window, etc) or (of a door, etc) be closed noisily; slam
11.
(transitive) to cause to move by hitting vigorously: he banged the ball over the fence
12.
to make or cause to make a loud noise, as of an explosion
13.
(transitive) (Brit)
  1. to cause (stock prices) to fall by rapid selling
  2. to sell rapidly in (a stock market), thus causing prices to fall
14.
(taboo, slang) to have sexual intercourse with
15.
(intransitive) (slang) to inject heroin, etc
16.
(informal) bang for one's buck, value for money: this option offers more bang for your buck
17.
(informal) bang goes, that is the end of: bang goes my job in Wapping
18.
bang one's head against a brick wall, to try to achieve something impossible
adverb
19.
with a sudden impact or effect: bang went his hopes of winning, the car drove bang into a lamp-post
20.
precisely: bang in the middle of the road
21.
(slang) bang to rights, caught red-handed
22.
go bang, to burst, shut, etc, with a loud noise See also bang up
Word Origin
C16: from Old Norse bang, banga hammer; related to Low German bangen to beat; all of imitative origin

bang2

/bæŋ/
noun
1.
a fringe or section of hair cut straight across the forehead
verb (transitive)
2.
to cut (the hair) in such a style
3.
to dock (the tail of a horse, etc)
Word Origin
C19: probably short for bangtail short tail

bang3

/bæŋ/
noun
1.
a variant spelling of bhang

bhang

/bæŋ/
noun
1.
a preparation of the leaves and flower tops of Indian hemp, which has psychoactive properties: much used in India See also cannabis
Word Origin
C16: from Hindi bhāng
Word Origin and History for bang
v.

1540s, "to strike hard with a loud blow," from a Scandinavian sourse akin to Old Norse 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. The noun is recorded from late 16c.

This is the way the world ends
Not with a bang but a whimper

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

bang in Medicine

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.

Slang definitions & phrases for bang

bang

adverb

Precisely; exactly: bang on the hour (1820s+)

noun
  1. A very pleasurable sensation; surge of joy; thrill; kick, rush: This'll give you a big bang (1930+)
  2. An injection of a narcotic, esp an intravenous shot of heroin (1910+ Narcotics)
  3. The sex act: The wedding night, you idiot. The first bang. How was it?
  4. An exclamation point; shriek: Let's stick a bang on it to dress it up (Printers 1930s+, computer 1980s+)
  5. A drink of liquor; shot: Give me a bang of Jaeger Meister (1990s+) v1x To do the sex act with or to; copulate with: He banged her twice and left happy (1916+) 2 To be in a youth gang; be a gangbanger
Related Terms

big bang, gang bang, get a bang (or charge) out of someone or something, go over with a bang, whizbang

[late 1980s+ Los Angeles gangs; from the rhyme, but influenced by gang bang, ''serial sex act done by a group of males to one woman'']


bang in Technology


1. A common spoken name for "!" (ASCII 33), especially when used in pronouncing a bang path in spoken hackish. In elder days this was considered a CMUish usage, with MIT and Stanford hackers preferring excl or shriek; but the spread of Unix has carried "bang" with it (especially via the term bang path) and it is now certainly the most common spoken name for "!". Note that it is used exclusively for non-emphatic written "!"; one would not say "Congratulations bang" (except possibly for humorous purposes), but if one wanted to specify the exact characters "foo!" one would speak "Eff oh oh bang".
See pling, shriek, ASCII.
2. An exclamation signifying roughly "I have achieved enlightenment!", or "The dynamite has cleared out my brain!" Often used to acknowledge that one has perpetrated a thinko immediately after one has been called on it.
[Jargon File]
(1995-01-31)

Idioms and Phrases with bang

bang

also see: