Word.ws English Dictionary

conk

/kɒŋk/US/kɑŋk/

conk noun: the shelf- or bracket-shaped fruiting body of a bracket fungus (also called a shelf fungus), i.e. a mushroom growing off a tree trunk. Also the alternative spelling of conch.

conk: the shelf- or bracket-shaped fruiting body of a bracket fungus (also called a shelf fungus), i.e. a...
Image: Marshman, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun (1)

conk (plural conks)

  1. The shelf- or bracket-shaped fruiting body of a bracket fungus (also called a shelf fungus), i.e. a mushroom growing off a tree trunk.
  2. (slang) A nose, especially a large one.

Verb (1)

conk (third-person singular simple present conks, present participle conking, simple past and past participle conked)

  1. (slang) To hit, especially on the head.
    • She came skipping to me just now, clapping her little hands and bleating about how very, very happy she was, dear Mrs Travers. The silly young geezer. I nearly conked her one with my trowel. I'd always thought her half-baked, but now I think they didn't even put her in the oven.1960, P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse, chapter XVII, in Jeeves in the Offing, London: Herbert Jenkins, →OCLC

Noun (2)

conk (plural conks)

  1. (US, dated) A hairstyle involving the chemical straightening and styling of kinky hair.

Verb (2)

conk (third-person singular simple present conks, present participle conking, simple past and past participle conked)

  1. (US, dated) To chemically straighten tightly curled hair.
    • The barbecue cook, wearing a dirty white apron, his conked hair reddish and metallic in the pale sun, and a cigarette between his lips, stood in the doorway, watching them.1957, James Baldwin, “Sonny’s Blues”, in Going to Meet the Man, Dial, published 1965

Verb (3)

conk (third-person singular simple present conks, present participle conking, simple past and past participle conked)

  1. (colloquial, often) To fail or show signs of failing, cease operating, break down.
    • Therefore, have two or more engines, so that there is still some power left if one engine conks.1921, Australian Aero Clubs, Sea, Land and Air, volume 3, page 310
    • I watch television when it's playing, but it done conked out. Everything is conked out.1983, Walli Leff, Marilyn Haft, Time without Work, page 93
  2. (colloquial, often) To become unconscious.

Also used as

conk is also the alternative spelling of conch.

Forms of conk

Noun
pluralconks
alternative formkonk
Verb
third-person singular presentconks
present participleconking
past participleconked
pastconked

Origin of conk

Variant or figurative use of conch. Attested since the nineteenth century.

From congolene, the brand name of a hair-straightening product.

Unknown. Attested since the early twentieth century.

Words formed from conk

Words that rhyme with conk

5 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about conk

What does conk mean?
Conk means the shelf- or bracket-shaped fruiting body of a bracket fungus (also called a shelf fungus), i.e. a mushroom growing off a tree trunk.
What part of speech is conk?
Conk can be a noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce conk?
Conk is pronounced /kɒŋk/ (UK).
What is the plural of conk?
The plural of conk is conks.

Words near conk in the dictionary

  1. conjuror
  2. conjurors
  3. conjurour
  4. conjurours
  5. conjury
  6. conk
  7. conk off
  8. conk out
  9. Conkanee
  10. Conkanees
  11. conked

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: conk (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-conk.wav.

Cite this entry: “conk.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/conk. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.