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Gong
Definitions
- 1 Wollongong. New-South-Wales, colloquial
- 1 A percussion instrument consisting of a metal disk that emits a loud resonant sound when struck with a soft hammer.
"All the time six or eight large Chinese gongs were being beaten by the vigorous arms of as many young men, producing such a deafening discord that I was glad to escape to the round house, where I slept very comfortably with half a dozen smoke-dried human skulls suspended over my head."
- 2 An outhouse: an outbuilding used as a lavatory. obsolete
"The Iewe of Tewkysbury which fell into a Gonge vpon the Satyrday."
- 3 A kind of cultivation energy, more powerful than qi. uncountable
- 4 a percussion instrument consisting of a set of tuned bells that are struck with a hammer; used as an orchestral instrument wordnet
- 5 A medal or award, particularly Knight Bachelor. British, slang
"This grooming of the national mindset explains the retention of 92 "hereditary peers" in the House of Lords: individuals who are gifted a right to sit in the nation's upper chamber and facilitate laws for no other reason than that their ancestor was the illegitimate child of some prince, or willing to spaff a few quid on the title when David Lloyd Gorge was selling of gongs for bribes."
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- 6 The contents of an outhouse pit: shit. obsolete
- 7 An advanced practice that cultivates such energy. uncountable
- 8 a percussion instrument consisting of a metal plate that is struck with a softheaded drumstick wordnet
- 9 A metal target that emits a sound when it has been hit.
- 1 To make the sound of a gong; to ring a gong. intransitive
"Poor old Pyecraft! He has just gonged, no doubt to order another buttered tea-cake!"
- 2 sound a gong wordnet
- 3 To send a signal to, using a gong or similar device.; To halt (originally, a contestant in a talent show; later, a performer, a speaker). transitive
"As she was gonged, host Daryl Somers swept rapidly across and salvaged an embarrassing situation by putting his arm around her and asking her whether she had children."
- 4 To send a signal to, using a gong or similar device.; To warn. transitive
"The driver gonged the pedestrian crossing the tracks, but the pedestrian didn't stop."
- 5 To give an award or medal to. British, slang, transitive
"In 1972 he was awarded the British Red Cross Silver Medal for his services to the Red Cross. In 1978 he was 'gonged' once again, this time with the Queen's Jubilee Medal, marking the 25th year of her reign."
Etymology
From Malay gong, possibly onomatopoeic.
From Malay gong, possibly onomatopoeic.
From Middle English gong, from Old English gong, where it was originally a variant of the noun gang (“a going, walk, journey, way, etc.”), derived from the verb gangan (“to go, walk, travel”), whose relation to go in Proto-Germanic remains unclear. Doublet of gang.
From Mandarin 功 (gōng, “merit; achievement”).
See also for "gong"
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