Bongcloud

noun, verb

noun, verb ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A chess opening in which white's king is advanced to the second rank on the second move, for example, 1.e4 e5 2.Ke2, thus preventing white from being able to castle and allowing black to develop with tempo.
Verb
  1. 1
    To play such an opening. intransitive
  2. 2
    To advance one's king to the second rank without first castling. intransitive

Etymology

From bong + cloud (of marijuana smoke from the bong); exact origin for name uncertain, though perhaps the handle of an online chess player who frequently used this opening technique.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.