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Definition of 'conker'

Word Frequency

conker

(kɒŋkəʳ )

Word forms: plural conkers

1. countable noun

Conkers are round brown nuts which come from horse chestnut trees.

[British]

2. uncountable noun

Conkers is a children's game in which you tie a conker to a piece of string and try to break your opponent's conker by hitting it as hard as you can with your own.

[British]

COBUILD Advanced English Dictionary. Copyright © HarperCollins Publishers

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Word Frequency

conker in British English

(ˈkɒŋkə )

noun

an informal name for horse chestnut (sense 2)

Collins English Dictionary. Copyright © HarperCollins Publishers

Word Frequency

conker in American English

(ˈkɑŋkər )

noun British

1. [pl., with sing. v.]

a child's game played with horse chestnuts tied to strings

2.

a horse chestnut

Webster’s New World College Dictionary, 4th Edition. Copyright © 2010 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. All rights reserved.

Word origin

Brit dial., orig., a snail shell (< conch + -er): the game was orig. played with shells

Word Frequency

conker in American English

(ˈkɑŋkər, ˈkɔŋ-)

noun Brit informal

1.

a horse chestnut

2.

the hollowed-out shell of a horse chestnut

3. See conkers

Most material © 2005, 1997, 1991 by Penguin Random House LLC. Modified entries © 2019 by Penguin Random House LLC and HarperCollins Publishers Ltd

Word origin

[1840–50; prob. orig. conquer; cf. conquering a game played with snail shells (the name of the game presumably later transferred to the playing pieces)]

Examples of 'conker' in a sentence
conker

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Over cautious schools have recently banned tag, conkers and swings.We hark back to the good old days of collecting conkers, splashing in streams and building dens.Under horse chestnut trees the first gleaming brown conkers can be found, surrounded by segments of their soft shells.A new survey of teachers found a sixth of schools have banned conkers because of health and safety fears.THE playground game of conkers could become extinct as Britain's horse chestnut trees are wiped out by disease and a plague of foreign moths.

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Definition of conker from the Collins English Dictionary

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Nov 08, 2021

Word of the day

desertification

Desertification is the process by which a piece of land becomes dry , empty , and unsuitable for growing trees or crops on.

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