bork

Verb (1)

bork (third-person singular simple present borks, present participle borking, simple past and past participle borked)

1. (US, ambitransitive, derogatory, often) To defeat a person's appointment or election, judicial nomination, etc., through a concerted attack on the person's character, background, and philosophy.
   • In light of the current furor over trying to appoint a new Supreme Court justice, I would like to submit a new verb in the English language. Three forms would be "to bork," "borking," and "borked." This would describe the act of partisan political character assassination.[1987 December 10, Kenneth H. Taylor, “[Voice of the People:] New verb”, in The San Bernardino County Sun, page 11, columns 3–4
   • George [H. W.] Bush will almost certainly have an opportunity to nominate one or more justices. It would be a pity for all of us if they are subjected to the treatment accorded Robert Bork. Honest disagreement is one thing; "borking" is something else.1988 November 30, William McCarthy, “Democrats ‘borked’”, in Chicago Tribune, archived from the original on 19 Oct 2017, page 20

Verb (2)

bork (third-person singular simple present borks, present participle borking, simple past borked, past participle borked or borken)

1. (slang, transitive) To misconfigure, break, or damage, especially a computer or other complex device.
   • The first time I tried the test machine that I got, I borked the configuration pretty badly (I.e., I inverted the interfaces among other things).2001–2006, Oskar Andreasson, “Commercial Products Based on Linux, iptables and netfilter”, in Iptables Tutorial 1.2.2, [s.l.]: Oskar Andreasson, archived from the original on 10 Jan 2017, page 327
   • Angie sat back and stared at the screen. Well, that screwed her up good and proper. Go to the brass with information that might put her in the slam … or go it solo and risk borking up the situation even worse than it was already.2014 January, Naomi Kramer, Yesterday’s Cat: Episode 1: Before the Storm, [Los Gatos, Calif.]: Smashwords, →ISBN
2. (intransitive, slang) To become broken or damaged, especially of a computer or other complex device.
   • Sometimes Windows system files get messed up (the technical term is "borked"). In those cases, Microsoft has a program called Refresh that scans and fixes all the system files, without changing your settings, removing any installed programs, or blasting your data.2014, Woody Leonhard, “Maintaining Your System”, in Windows 8.1 All-in-One for Dummies (For Dummies), Hoboken, N.J.: John Wiley & Sons, →ISBN
   • The building is currently occupied by Benetton, but we could be about to see the beautiful range of multi-ethnic models in overpriced clothes replaced by models that get borked with every upgrade … oh, and are also overpriced.2017 September 22, Chris Merriman, “Microsoft is Looking at Opening a London Flagship Store at Oxford Circus: It’s so Close to the Apple Store, You’ll be Able to Piggyback the WiFi”, in The Inquirer...

Noun (1)

bork (plural borks)

1. (informal) The bald notothen or bald rockcod (Pagothenia borchgrevinki), a species of cod icefish (Nototheniidae) native to the Southern Ocean.
   • Near the water surface, Mayflower hunted for larger prey in the form of "borks." Pagothenia borchgrevinki "bork," for short—are buggy-eyed, dark-spotted fish with a Mohawk ridge of fins along the top. They live among the ice crystals formed by the platelet ice, hiding just below the frozen surface...2004, Terre M. Williams, The Hunter’s Breath: On Expedition with the Weddell Seals of the Antarctic, New York, N.Y.: M. Evans and Company, →ISBN, page 199
   • On entering the Aquarium Building, I bumped into John Janssen, a biologist studying the behavior and physiology of Antarctic fish, and now a professor of biology at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee. John stood near a large circular seawater tank containing a school of "borks" (Pagothenia...2012, James McClintock, “Life Adrift: The Small Organisms Matter”, in Lost Antarctica: Adventures in a Disappearing Land, New York, N.Y.: Palgrave Macmillan, →ISBN

Noun (2)

bork (plural borks)

1. (Internet, humorous) The sound that a dog makes.
   • Understanding doggo memes requires a previous knowledge of doggo meme jargon, including words such as bamboozled (a word that basically signifies confusion in any context) and bork (for a dog’s bark).2017 October 19, Rachel Henry, “Heckin’ bamboozled”, in The Daily Californian

Verb (3)

bork (third-person singular simple present borks, present participle borking, simple past and past participle borked)

1. (Internet, humorous) Of a dog, to bark.
   • Dogs become “doggo”, “floofs” and “puppers” and they “bork” rather than bark.2016 September 6, Elena Cresci, “Cats v dogs: which animal owns the internet?”, in The Guardian
   • And now, a Doge can bork — Tumblr doggo slang for barking or being aggressive.2016 December 8, Jay Hathaway, “The very longevity of Doge, the Shiba Inu meme that is still such popular”, in The Daily Dot

Verb (4)

bork (third-person singular simple present borks, present participle borking, simple past and past participle borked)

1. (slang, vulgar) To boink; to have sex with.
   • It was Oscar Wilde who remarked on the phenomenon of Life imitating Art . What with the tabloid Press, and Princess Di borking her riding instructor in a high-life, contemporary update of Lady Chatterley's Lover, we may soon not need fiction […]1994, The Book Review, volumes 18-19, page 34

Verb (5)

bork (third-person singular simple present borks, present participle borking, simple past and past participle borked)

1. (slang, Liverpool) To retch or vomit.
   • He tweeted: “Barf!! @BurgerKingUK thanks for [sic] Hygeine standards. How many hairs did I eat b4 realising?? Borked!!!”2016 January 8, Christina Criddle, quoting Si Foster, “Actor finds stomach-churning greasy black hair in his Burger King”, in Liverpool Echo
   • She told the ECHO : "I can't open my windows because it makes me want to bork."2019 September 4, Olivia Williams, quoting Diane Jones, “People unable to open windows due to lingering 'revolting' smell”, in Liverpool Echo

Proper noun capitalized: Bork

IPA/bɔː(ɹ)k/

Bork

1. A surname.

Verb (6) capitalized: Bork

IPA/bɔː(ɹ)k/

Bork (third-person singular simple present Borks, present participle Borking, simple past Borked, past participle Borked or Borken)

1. Alternative letter-case form of bork.
   • That's the third nominee the Republicans have Borken this season.[1999, Steven Pinker, “Broken Telephone”, in Words and Rules: The Ingredients of Language, New York, N.Y.: Basic Books, →ISBN; republished New York, N.Y.: Basic Books, 2015, →ISBN, page 59
   • After an eight-year hiatus, these groups are back on the scene, ready to implement an apparent vicious strategy of Borking any judicial nominee who happens to disagree with their view of how the world should be.2002 February 7, Orrin G[rant] Hatch, “Statement of the Honorable Orrin Hatch, United States Senator, Utah [The Nomination of Charles W. Pickering to be United States Circuit Court Judge for the...