Word.ws English Dictionary

donkeys

donkeys is the plural of donkey.

Meaning of donkey

Noun

donkey (plural donkeys or (obsolete) donkies)

  1. A domestic animal, Equus asinus asinus, similar to a horse.
    • Lost last Saturday between twenty and thirty shillings they that have found it please to leave it heare there is five shillings reward by Wm. Roberts that goeth with a Donkey with many thanks1776 August 24, “[untitled]”, in Ipswich Journal, Ipswich, Suffolk, page 1
    Synonyms:
    Jerusalem pony
  2. A stubborn person.
    Synonyms:
    bulldog, mule
  3. A fool.
  4. A small auxiliary engine.
    Synonyms:
    donkey engine
  5. (dated, slang) A box or chest, especially a toolbox.
  6. (slang) A bad poker player.

See all 7 meanings of donkey

Noun capitalized: Donkeys

Donkeys

  1. (Australia, derogatory, humorous, informal, mildly, sometimes) the Brisbane Broncos (a rugby league club based in Brisbane, Australia)

Origin of donkeys

From the fact that a donkey is typically depicted as a clumsy animal with a lack of intelligence (evident in terms such as ass and donkey vote), in comparison to a horse which is depicted as a strong and powerful companion animal. A bronco is a bucking horse.

Phrases with donkeys

Questions about donkeys

What does donkeys mean?
Donkeys means the Brisbane Broncos (a rugby league club based in Brisbane, Australia).
What is donkeys the plural of?
Donkeys is the plural of donkey.
What part of speech is donkeys?
Donkeys is a noun.

Words near donkeys in the dictionary

  1. donkeypowers
  2. donkeypunch
  3. donkeypunched
  4. donkeypunches
  5. donkeypunching
  6. donkeys
  7. donkeys' years
  8. donkeyshit
  9. donkeywork
  10. donkies
  11. Donkin

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: donkeys (page history and authors); Donkeys (page history and authors); donkey (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.

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