plonky

comparative plonkier · superlative plonkiest

1. informalChiefly of pianos: having an unappealing, thudding sound.

   They both possess a light, slightly nasal voice, but whereas Siffre has his excellent guitar work to back up his vocals, O'Sullivan only has that same old plonky piano and his arranger.

   1973, Beat Instrumental & International Recording, numbers 122-127, page 59

   1 more example

   Clement Ishmael's plodding arrangements for lone, plonky piano, and the unlovely voices of two-thirds of the cast, do not help: even a sublimely sexy song like You Can Leave Your Hat On is rendered flat and toneless.

   1996, Theatre Record, volume 16, numbers 9-15, page 871

2. figurativelyDull, stiff, unadventurous.

   1 more example

   Where are the Paines and Cobdens and Nocks of today? Why are almost all of our laissez-faire limited governmentalists, plonky conservatives, and patriots? If the opposite of "radical" is "conservative," where are our radical laissez-fairists? If our limited statists were truly radical, there would be virtually no splits between us. What divides the movement now, the true division, is not anarchist vs. minarchist, but radical vs. conservative. Lord, give us radicals, be they anarchists or no.

   1977 July, Murray N. Rothbard, “Do You Hate the State?”, in The Libertarian Forum, volume 10, number 7, Mises Institute, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 30 Mar 2024

3. figurativelyslangOf wine: having the qualities of plonk; cheap and inferior.