bonce

Noun

bonce (plural bonces)

1. (dated) A large marble of grey stone used in various games, such as bonce about, bonce-eye, and French bonce.
   • Bonces, or very large stone marbles, made chiefly in Holland.c. 1837, The Book of Games; or, The Schoolboys' Manual of Amusement, Instruction and Health, page 33
   • BONCE ABOUT is played with a big kind of marbles, called "bonces." The game does not require much skill. The first player puts down his bonce, and the second aims at it from a given distance. If he hits the bonce of the first player with his own, he wins a marble; if not, the first player aims at...1863, The Boy's Handy Book of Sports, Pastimes, Games and Amusements, Part I, page 22
2. (dated) A marble game played with bonces.
   • Bonce is played with very large marbles. One boy pitches his bonce, and another tries to strike it, each throwing by turns: if the bonce be struck, its owner pays a forfeit of one or more marbles, as agreed on.1862, Young England, Volume 1, page 141

   Synonyms:

   bonce about

3. (Commonwealth, Ireland, UK, slang) The human head.
   • Bonce (various), the head, called also "crust, chump." From bonce, a marble of larger size than ordinary, used by boys.1889, Barrère and Leland, A Dictionary of Slang, Jargon & Cant, page 158
   • To see Nina herself Nick had to crane round the big white bonce of Norman Kent, who was as sensitive to music as he was to conservatives, and kept shifting in his seat.2004, Alan Hollinghurst, chapter 9, in The Line of Beauty […], London: Picador, →ISBN