Main definitions of plonk in English

: plonk¹ plonk²

plonk¹

verb

informal

1with object and adverbial of place Set down heavily or carelessly.
‘she plonked her glass on the table’
- ‘‘We have some left over bacon’ Henrietta said and she carelessly plonked the strips of meat into the same frying pan as the eggs.’
- ‘He takes the glass from me, plonking it down on his desk - a little too hard, if you ask me.’
- ‘We plonked the stone down where it was to live, stood back, looked at one another, nodded, and the decision was made.’
- ‘I plonked my case on the conveyor belt and stood back as they watched the contents appear on the little monitor.’
- ‘He plonks his boots next to him, I make the mistake of moving them to sit down, and he quickly retrieves them from the ground.’
- ‘Brenda plonks two packets of dried prunes and a scotchbrite on the counter.’
- ‘He plonks a small, beautifully-made mechanical instrument on the desk in front of me.’
- ‘When we meet he plonks his keys on the table and there is a picture of a little girl on his key-ring.’
- ‘They have just spent £60,000 of public money, plonking speed bumps and concrete chicanes on a country road where accidents were rare and dangerous speeding was nearly impossible.’
- ‘‘I've discovered Night Nurse,’ he announced cheerfully, plonking the bottle on the side table.’
- ‘The one-to-one dialogue gives children the chance to practise speech, something not achieved by plonking them in front of a television set.’
- ‘They waved us to empty chairs, plonking cups filled with coffee as thick as treacle in front of us - and, completely unperturbed, carried on raising the roof.’
- ‘He yanked a chair out from under the table, plonking his keys and other paraphernalia down.’
- ‘The skinhead came up to me with a grin, plonking his pint on my table, and asking how I was.’
- ‘An investigation is under way after a new speed camera was plonked right in front of a recently erected warning sign for a dangerous Coppull bridge - partially obscuring it.’
- ‘I ordered the meal with the funniest name, but then realised this was a mistake when the waiter plonked a plate consisting of nothing but vegetables, squid and pheasant eggs in front of me.’
- ‘Then he asked me to try some, but I didn't wish to as I had tried his wife's pork but he plonked some on my plate anyway.’
- ‘Then he plonked the teapot in the middle of the table.’
- ‘The hairdresser plonked me down in her spinning salon chair, took a handful of my hair and exclaimed gleefully,’
- ‘I pulled the samples out, plonked them on the table and started talking about them, looking round the room and catching people's eyes as I was talking.’
put, place, put down, lay, lay down, deposit, position, settle, station
1. 1.1plonk oneselfSit down heavily and without ceremony.
  ‘he plonked himself down on the sofa’
  ‘‘Hey,’ he said cheerfully and made his way to the couch, and plonked himself down heavily.’
  ‘Their son goes to the cinema picks a row where there are three empty seats and plonks himself down in the middle one.’
  ‘As I plonked myself down in my seat with my popcorn and my candy floss, cursing the child next to me who had managed to tread on my ingrown toenail and was now causing a ruckus, I knew exactly what to expect.’
  ‘The cane chairs may turn out to be a little rickety and you may have to guard against someone plonking themselves on your delicate low seat, for it could collapse along with them.’
  ‘Had we stayed at home I'd have plonked myself in front of the TV and watched the ceremonies and the pageantry being played out in London.’
  ‘He hastily boarded the bus and found the nearest vacant seat, flinging his bag on the window seat and plonking himself on the aisle seat, his favourite spot on the whole bus.’
  ‘Adele gasped, looking up to see Wes plonking himself in a seat beside her.’
  ‘There I plonked myself back in the seat I was in before, desperately trying to recall every exact detail of recent past events.’
  ‘To his luck, he found a window seat and plonked himself down on it.’
  ‘Happy to find the entire field and stands empty, she plonked herself on the bottom seat and let out a heavy sigh.’
  ‘I introduce myself to the lady now seated on the other side of my computer, who plonks herself down on the table next to me and pouts.’
  ‘The person who plonks himself down next to me is someway into his forties, with disappearing hair and one of those faces that has experienced a great deal.’
  ‘She walks over and plonks herself beside David’
  ‘I cried, plonking myself down in the chair beside her.’
  ‘He was limping a little, didn't seem to like standing on it, and just kept plonking himself down on the ground.’
  ‘Indeed, as we were finishing our meal at around 10.30 pm, two couples wandered in, plonked themselves down at the bar and ordered a drink and a snack each.’
  ‘So we trooped back to the farm where the entire extended family had plonked themselves in the kitchen and were devouring all the leftovers.’
  ‘I'm not sure if I was meant to pay but I ‘slipped’ in through the back door dragging my far-too-heavy case and plonked myself down… have a feeling that was not the thing to do but I was gonna claim ignorance being a Brit in a strange country!’
  ‘Yesterday on my arrival home from work, tired, grubby and not in the best of humour I plonked myself down in front of the pc, coffee and cigarette in hand, to check my mail before I set about any chores that needed attending too.’
  ‘I found a clean bit and plonked myself down and started to admire the view.’
  take a seat, seat oneself, settle down, be seated, take a chair
2no object Play unskilfully on a musical instrument.
‘people plonking around on expensive instruments’
- ‘The opening is one piano note, plonked slowly, deliberately after the other.’
- ‘It shall be like one of those period dramas, with guests conversing politely in the drawing room whilst Kate plonks away in the next room.’
- ‘There's a medley, plonked out on a Hammond organ.’

noun

informal

A sound as of something being set down heavily.
‘he sat down with a plonk’
- ‘The weakest element is the soundtrack - rhythmic rattles and plops, clonks, clicks and plonks, with vague background song - rather a letdown.’
- ‘For instance, I agree entirely with his description of the music as ‘two plinks, a plonk, and a grrr!’’
- ‘I cherished the symbols of dominion so soon to be objects of ridicule or subjects of parody - the plonk of the cricket ball, the stamp of the sentry's boot, the hymns and the silly rituals that spoke of old certitudes.’
put down, set down, place down, deposit, drop, station, leave, rest

Origin

Late 19th century (originally dialect): imitative; compare with plunk.

Pronunciation

plonk

/plɒŋk/

Main definitions of plonk in English

: plonk¹ plonk²

plonk²

noun

mass nouninformalBritish

Cheap wine of inferior quality.
‘we turned up at 8 p.m., each clutching a bottle of plonk’
- ‘Spanish wine, which was higher in alcohol than other wines, was regarded mainly as cheaper heady plonk, and better, more expensive, wines were often cut with it.’
- ‘Ever wondered how you can test your taste buds' ability to tell the difference between cheap plonk and fine wines?’
- ‘And they have to wash the whole thing down with a pint of lager or some cheap and plentiful plonk.’
- ‘If memory serves, main courses were about £9.00 a time, and bottles of decent plonk from their limited wine list were about £12.00.’
- ‘Although still associated in the minds of most wine drinkers with cheap, fizzy plonk, perfectly decent restaurants are daring to add aluminium-capped bottles to their cellars.’
- ‘We got a call two nights ago, at about 10 or 11 pm, just as we were planning to get really shloshed on a few bottles of cheap plonk.’
- ‘It used to be a Saturday night thing, go down to his place, make some pasta and get smashed on cheap plonk.’
- ‘My advice is to get a few bottles of plonk at the off-licence and get down to Ethas Kitchen, only a five minute drive away - a place that oozes ambience and offers quality dishes in a very unpretentious surrounding.’
- ‘He doesn't mind drinking plonk, but says that ‘like a lot of people in their forties, I'd rather have one really good bottle than 20 bottles of bad stuff’.’
- ‘The Calgary restaurant wine scene has come a long way since a barrage of steak houses pushed gallons of cheap plonk down our throats via the infamous half-litre carafe.’
- ‘Tomorrow morning, there will be some excruciating hangovers in our party, produced by a relatively small amount of plonk.’
- ‘Having eaten in nearby restaurants, this is a great place to let your food settle with a bottle of reasonably priced plonk.’
- ‘I haven't even succeeded in my most basic quest which is to find an everyday red plonk that I won't get bored with by the second glass.’
- ‘Would you decant a £2.99 bottle of plonk into an empty bottle of Beaune Pinot-Noir to impress your guests?’
- ‘Wine now accounts for almost a quarter of alcohol sales, with Australian plonk accounting for six of the top ten wine brands sold in Britain.’
- ‘Meeting the maker, tasting the plonk, and hopefully coming back for more.’
- ‘There is always someone around to pick you up. ‘If Eliza keeps swilling the plonk like that, she had better hope so.’’
- ‘Later when he moved up to Chiswick, it was much the same sort of evening, but the plonk got better.’
- ‘Jilly comes back into the room and tops up the plonk.’
- ‘Then it jumped, and Kate screamed again, and Mike did drop the plonk, which began to spread across the floor like a blood stain.’