Library / English Dictionary

BANG

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

A conspicuous success

Example:

the party went with a bang

Synonyms:

bang; hit; smash; smasher; strike

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("bang" is a kind of...):

success (an attainment that is successful)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "bang"):

blockbuster; megahit; smash hit (an unusually successful hit with widespread popularity and huge sales (especially a movie or play or recording or novel))

sleeper (an unexpected hit)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A border of hair that is cut short and hangs across the forehead

Synonyms:

bang; fringe

Classified under:

Nouns denoting body parts

Hypernyms ("bang" is a kind of...):

coif; coiffure; hair style; hairdo; hairstyle (the arrangement of the hair (especially a woman's hair))

Sense 3

Meaning:

A sudden very loud noise

Synonyms:

bam; bang; blast; clap; eruption

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural events

Hypernyms ("bang" is a kind of...):

noise (sound of any kind (especially unintelligible or dissonant sound))

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "bang"):

water hammer (the banging sound of steam in pipes)

Derivation:

bang (move noisily)

bang (to produce a sharp often metallic explosive or percussive sound)

Sense 4

Meaning:

A vigorous blow

Example:

he got a bang on the head

Synonyms:

bang; bash; belt; knock; smash

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural events

Hypernyms ("bang" is a kind of...):

blow; bump (an impact (as from a collision))

Derivation:

bang (strike violently)

Sense 5

Meaning:

The swift release of a store of affective force

Example:

he does it for kicks

Synonyms:

bang; boot; charge; flush; kick; rush; thrill

Classified under:

Nouns denoting feelings and emotions

Hypernyms ("bang" is a kind of...):

excitement; exhilaration (the feeling of lively and cheerful joy)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Leap, jerk, bang

Example:

Bullets spanged into the trees

Synonyms:

bang; spang

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "bang" is one way to...):

collide with; hit; impinge on; run into; strike (hit against; come into sudden contact with)

Domain usage:

accent; dialect; idiom (the usage or vocabulary that is characteristic of a specific group of people)

Sentence frames:

Something is ----ing PP
Something ----s something

Sense 2

Meaning:

Strike violently

Example:

slam the ball

Synonyms:

bang; slam

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "bang" is one way to...):

hit (deal a blow to, either with the hand or with an instrument)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody

Derivation:

bang (a vigorous blow)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Close violently

Example:

He slammed the door shut

Synonyms:

bang; slam

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "bang" is one way to...):

close; shut (move so that an opening or passage is obstructed; make shut)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Sentence example:

They want to bang the doors

Sense 4

Meaning:

Have sexual intercourse with

Example:

Were you ever intimate with this man?

Synonyms:

bang; be intimate; bed; bonk; do it; eff; fuck; get it on; get laid; have a go at it; have intercourse; have it away; have it off; have sex; hump; jazz; know; lie with; love; make love; make out; roll in the hay; screw; sleep together; sleep with

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "bang" is one way to...):

copulate; couple; mate; pair (engage in sexual intercourse)

Verb group:

make out; neck (kiss, embrace, or fondle with sexual passion)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "bang"):

have; take (have sex with; archaic use)

fornicate (have sex without being married)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s

Sense 5

Meaning:

Move noisily

Example:

The old man banged around the house

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Hypernyms (to "bang" is one way to...):

go; locomote; move; travel (change location; move, travel, or proceed, also metaphorically)

Sentence frames:

Something is ----ing PP
Somebody ----s PP

Derivation:

bang (a sudden very loud noise)

Sense 6

Meaning:

To produce a sharp often metallic explosive or percussive sound

Example:

One of them banged the sash of the window nearest my bed

Classified under:

Verbs of seeing, hearing, feeling

Hypernyms (to "bang" is one way to...):

go; sound (make a certain noise or sound)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

bang (a sudden very loud noise)

banger (firework consisting of a small explosive charge and fuse in a heavy paper casing)

 III. (adverb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Directly

Example:

ran slap into her

Synonyms:

bang; bolt; slap; slapdash; smack

Classified under:

Adverbs

Domain usage:

colloquialism (a colloquial expression; characteristic of spoken or written communication that seeks to imitate informal speech)

Credits

 Context examples: 

There was a rush, a clatter upon the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running footfalls from the street.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

With that she stalked out, and made the door bang after her.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

The musicians fiddled, tooted, and banged as if they enjoyed it, everybody danced who could, and those who couldn't admired their neighbors with uncommon warmth.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

I stopped, for I did not know what was coming, and saw the galley door slide shut with a bang.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

The doors were in constant banging, the stairs were never at rest, nothing was done without a clatter, nobody sat still, and nobody could command attention when they spoke.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

Warning signs that it might be a more serious problem include: • Problems in more than one setting (at school, at home, with peers) • Changes in appetite or sleep • Social withdrawal or fear of things he or she did not used to be not afraid of • Returning to behaviors more common in younger children, such as bedwetting • Signs of being upset, such as sadness or tearfulness • Signs of self-destructive behavior, such as head-banging or suddenly getting hurt often • Repeated thoughts of death

(Child Mental Health, NIH: National Institute of Mental Health)

Astronomers from the Dark Cosmology Center at the Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen, Denmark discovered the first example of a compact yet massive, fast-spinning, disk-shaped galaxy that stopped making stars only a few billion years after the big bang.

(Massive Dead Disk Galaxy Challenges Theories of Galaxy Evolution, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

Whenever I see her, she always curtseys and asks me how I do, in a very pretty manner; and when you have had her here to do needlework, I observe she always turns the lock of the door the right way and never bangs it.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

"Don't bang the door," Mr. Higginbotham cautioned him.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

Round after round he scrambled his way in, slap-bang, right and left, every hit tremendously sent home.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)