chunder
English
Pronunciation
- (General Australian) IPA(key): /ˈtʃandə/
Audio (AU) (file) - (New Zealand) IPA(key): /ˈtʃɐndə/
- (UK) IPA(key): /ˈtʃʌndə(ɹ)/
- Rhymes: -ʌndə(ɹ)
- Hyphenation: chun‧der
Etymology 1
Unknown and debated origin. Possibly a shortening of Chunder Loo, itself a presumed rhyming slang for spew (said to be derived from the cartoon character “Chunder Loo of Akim Foo”, drawn by Norman Lindsay for a series of boot-polish advertisements in the early 1900s), but the rhyming slang usage is not actually recorded. Alternatively, possibly from the nautical phrase "*Watch under!" ("Look out below!"), used to warn people on lower decks that someone above was vomiting over the side of the ship, though this is likewise unsubstantiated and may simply be due to folk etymology. Also possibly from tunder, a dialectal pronunciation of thunder; or borrowed from Scots *junder, junner, chunner (“to bump, knock against", also "to break or spill the contents of”), a frequentative form of jund, chund, jundie (“to jog, jostle, annoy, upset”). First attested in c. 1950.
Noun
chunder (countable and uncountable, plural chunders)
- (UK, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, slang) Vomit. [from 1950.]
- 1996 April 24, Andrew Shore, “Nose Chunder (was Re: Grogan Epidemic at ERR)”, in alt.tasteless (Usenet):
- I had puke streamers hanging from both nostrils; it wasn′t as watery as my chunder usually is (from drinking).
- (UK, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, slang) An act of vomiting.
- 2001 September 9, John Dean, “‘chunder’”, in alt.usage.english (Usenet):
- I would guess it points up the difference between the involuntary chunder where you cannot choose the time place or direction, and the self-induced chunder which facilitates further consumption of alcohol after your theoretical limit is reached.
- Heavy, sticky snow that makes snowsports difficult.
Synonyms
- See Thesaurus:vomit
Translations
Verb
chunder (third-person singular simple present chunders, present participle chundering, simple past and past participle chundered)
- (Australia, New Zealand, British, slang) To throw up, to vomit, particularly from excessive alcohol consumption.
- 1980, Colin Hay, Ron Strykert (lyrics and music), “Down Under”, performed by Men at Work:
- I come from a land down under / Where beer does flow and men chunder / Can't you hear, can't you hear the thunder? / You better run, you better take cover
- 2008, Isabelle Young, Tony Gherardin, Central and South America, Lonely Planet, page 70,
- There are plenty of winding roads, diesel fumes, crowded public transport and various less than sweet odours to get you chundering when you′re on the move in this part of the world, so take a good supply of motion sickness remedies if you know you′re susceptible to this.
Synonyms
Translations
Etymology 2
Perhaps by confusion with chunter.
Alternative forms
- junder
Verb
chunder (third-person singular simple present chunders, present participle chundering, simple past and past participle chundered)
- Of a motor vehicle: to rumble loudly, to roar.
- (New England) To grumble, complain.