Donner
name, noun, verb, slang ·2 syllables ·Moderate ·College level
Definitions
- 1 One who dons (something).
"O sweet little wearers of round hats. O dainty donners of Mauve silks and sprigged muslins—I hear a voice saying—there was a time when all the ladies of Rome, with perfumes and fans, went daily to the Colosseum to see gigantic slaves chop each other to pieces; […]"
- 1 To beat up; clobber; thrash. South-Africa, slang
"Ag pleez Deddy won't you take us to the wrestling / We wanna see an ou called Sky High Lee / When he fights Willie Liebenberg / There's gonna be a murder / 'Cos Willie's gonna donner that blerrie yankee"
- 1 The seventh reindeer of Santa Claus.
Example
More examples"Ag pleez Deddy won't you take us to the wrestling / We wanna see an ou called Sky High Lee / When he fights Willie Liebenberg / There's gonna be a murder / 'Cos Willie's gonna donner that blerrie yankee"
Etymology
From Afrikaans donder (“thrash”), from Dutch donder (“thunder”). Doublet of thunder.
From don + -er.
First attested in the 1823 poem “A Visit from St. Nicholas”. Named from Dutch donder (“thunder”), and perhaps influenced by the German form Donner.
Related phrases
More for "donner"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.