Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A hairstyle in which the hair is straightened, usually by chemical means.
  • transitive verb To straighten (tightly curled hair) usually by chemical means.
  • noun The head.
  • noun A blow, especially on the head.
  • noun Chiefly British The human nose.
  • intransitive verb To hit, especially on the head.
  • intransitive verb To stop functioning; fail.
  • intransitive verb To fall asleep, especially suddenly or heavily.
  • intransitive verb To pass out; faint.
  • intransitive verb To die.
  • noun A hard, shelflike, spore-bearing structure of certain wood-decaying fungi, found on stumps, logs, or trees.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The head.
  • noun The nose.
  • noun In botany, a tough, leathery, or woody fungus, especially Trametes pini, whose fruiting bodies are bracket-like in form and occur upon the trunks of trees, producing a decay of the timber.
  • noun A confidential chat.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • transitive verb slang to hit on the head.
  • noun slang the head.
  • noun slang a blow to the head.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun mycology The shelf- or bracket-shaped fruiting body of a Bracket fungus (A.K.A. Shelf fungus), i.e., a mushroom growing off a tree trunk.
  • noun slang A nose, especially a large one.
  • noun Alternative spelling of conch.
  • verb slang To hit, especially on the head.
  • verb To chemically straighten tightly curled hair.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb pass out from weakness, physical or emotional distress due to a loss of blood supply to the brain
  • verb come to a stop
  • noun informal term for the nose
  • verb pass from physical life and lose all bodily attributes and functions necessary to sustain life
  • verb hit, especially on the head

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Perhaps alteration of congolene, substance for straightening hair.]

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Perhaps variant of conch. N., sense 1b, and v., probably of imitative origin.]

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Perhaps alteration of conch.]

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Examples

  • It also refers to the "conk" style in which tightly curled hair is straightened using the chemical congolene (or should it be conkolene, according to Lionel Boyd) and then combed out.

    John Lee Hooker Lyrics 2009

  • Paris blows hers out; Malcolm's early "conk" came courtesy of a painful lye job.

    Dana Kennedy: Paris X 2008

  • Just as it seem like they can't shout any louder, we hear this big "conk," which sound like somebody get hit over the head with a board or somethin.

    Forrest Gump Groom, Winston, 1944- 1986

  • It also refers to the "conk" style in which tightly curled hair is straightened using the chemical congolene (or should it be conkolene, according to Lionel Boyd) and then combed out.

    Process John Lee Hooker 1961

  • The Montague people in 1759 paid £1 10s. for their "conk," and also on the purchase year gave Joseph Root 20 shillings for blowing the new shell.

    Sabbath in Puritan New England Alice Morse Earle 1881

  • We hear toward evening, high in air, the "conk" of the wild-geese.

    The Complete Project Gutenberg Writings of Charles Dudley Warner Charles Dudley Warner 1864

  • We hear toward evening, high in air, the "conk" of the wild-geese.

    How Spring Came in New England Charles Dudley Warner 1864

  • Some would return with their hair "conk" a la James Brown and so much brilliantine you could smell it around the corner.

    unknown title 2009

  • With my wild zoot suit I wore the yellow knob-toe shoes, and I frizzled my hair up into a reddish bush of conk.

    A Renegade History of the United States Thaddeus Russell 2010

  • Seriously, I have these fevered memories of the ring producing a giant green photon hammer to conk some dude on the melon.

    Nathan Fillion is… Green Lantern 2009

Comments

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  • Immediately followed by "Ouch!"

    August 8, 2008