chunk

plural chunks

1. A part of something that has been separated; a generally squat, thick, irregular piece of something, e.g. wood or stone.

   a chunk of granite

   3 more examples

   The statue broke into chunks.

   Daylight, between mouthfuls, fed chunks of ice into the tin pot, where it thawed into water. […] Daylight cut up generous chunks of bacon and dropped them in the pot of bubbling beans.

   1910 October, Jack London, Burning Daylight, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company, →OCLC

   Until the main road from Hatfield to Hertford was diverted a few years ago, heavy lorries trundling through the village sometimes knocked chunks off corner buildings, but now the village has regained much of its former tranquillity.

   1980, AA Book of British Villages, Drive Publications Ltd, page 224, about Hertingfordbury

   Synonyms: bit, hunk, lump, bit, chip, tranche, clip, crumb

   1. A large or substantial portion of something.

      I'd be willing to bet a chunk of my retirement that the number hasn't decreased.

      2013 February 26, Maryellen Weimer, Learner-Centered Teaching: Five Key Changes to Practice, John Wiley & Sons, →ISBN, page 91

      1 more example

      […] she'd be willing to bet a chunk of change this would be one of the nicest rooms Kate-Lynn Bowers had ever slept in: it was the sort of place you'd think twice about running away from.

      2015 December 6, Eva Hudson, Shoot First, Two Pies Press

      Synonyms: bit, hunk, lump, bit, chip, tranche, clip, crumb

2. educationA sequence of two or more words that occur in language with high frequency but are not idiomatic.

   In fact, some linguists suggest that 45 percent to 60 percent of what you produce in your L1 is functional chunks of language. These chunks of language also give you some sense of fluency.

   2025, María J. Cabrera-Puche, Learning A New Language For Dummies, John Wiley & Sons, →ISBN, page 219

   Synonyms: bundle, cluster

3. computingA discrete segment of a file, stream, etc. (especially one that represents audiovisual media); a block.

   The first DWORD of a chunk data in the RIFF chunk is a four character code value identifying the form type of the file.

   1994, Paul J Perry, Multimedia developer's guide

   1 more example

   Each peer downloads the desired file, in chunks, from a multitude of other peers. While downloading missing chunks, peers upload to other peers in the same torrent the chunks they have already obtained.

   2015, Jean-Marc Pierson, Large-scale Distributed Systems and Energy Efficiency: A Holistic View, John Wiley & Sons, →ISBN, page 271

4. comedyA segment of a comedian's performance.

   If you're gigging outdoors for the Society of Catholic Gardeners, don't close your set with your "Papa Beelzebub" chunk (no matter how life affirming you think it is!).

   2012, Jay Sankey, Zen and the Art of Stand-Up Comedy, page 168

   1 more example

   You begin gathering two hours of dependable comedy by developing that first three-minute chunk. When you're satisfied with it, you create another three minutes of laughs, then another three minutes.

   1994, Gene Perret, Successful Stand-up Comedy: Advice from a Comedy Writer, page 80

present singular third person chunks · participle present chunking · participle past chunked · past chunked

1. transitiveTo break into large pieces or chunks.
2. transitiveTo break down (language, etc.) into conceptual pieces of manageable size.

   These results offer tentative evidence that suggests that certain components of computer-mediated instruction (in this case, access to and control over syntactically chunked, captioned video) are not necessarily beneficial for certain learners […]

   2005, Yong Zhao, Research in Technology and Second Language Education

3. Southern USslangtransitiveTo throw.

   Calpurnia said it was hard on Helen, because she had to walk nearly a mile out of her way to availed the Ewells, who, according to Helen, “chunked at her” the first time she tried to use the public road.

   1960, Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird

   Synonyms: chuck, fling, hurl, bung, cast, chuck, cook, dash

4. AppalachiaintransitiveTo add wood to a fire or to stoke it.
5. transitivevideo gamesTo deal a substantial amount of damage to an opponent.

   He's chunked right before the next battle so he has to regen HP.

6. transitiveTo remove a chunk from.

   "Mind you keep very still," he said, "or I might chunk a bit out of you with the spade."

   1899, E. Nesbit, The Story of the Treasure Seekers

plural chunks

1. archaicArchaic form of chank (“type of spiral shell”).