bang.
A sudden percussive noise.
Meaning & usage
A sudden percussive noise.
When he struck it with a hammer, there was a loud bang.
A heavy strike upon an object causing such a noise.
I gave the door a bang and it swung open.
That bang on his head has sent him funny.
An explosion.
When he pushed the detonator, the bang blew him off his feet.
Synonym of bangs: hair hanging over the forehead, especially a hairstyle with such hair cut straight across.
The symbol !, known as an exclamation point.
An e-mail address with an ! is called a bang path.
A factorial, in mathematics, because the factorial of n is written as n!
An act of sexual intercourse.
An offbeat figure typical of reggae songs and played on guitar and piano.
An explosive product.
Load the bang into the hole.
An injection, a shot (of a narcotic drug).
An abrupt left turn.
strong smell (of)
There was a bang of onions off his breath.
A thrill.
Where this word comes from
From Middle English *bangen, from Old English *bangian or borrowed from Old Norse banga (“to pound, hammer”); both from Proto-Germanic *bangōną (“to beat, pound”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰen- (“to beat, hit, injure”). Cognate with Scots bang, bung (“to strike, bang, hurl, thrash, offend”), Icelandic banga (“to pound, hammer”), Old Swedish bånga ("to hammer"; whence modern Swedish banka (“to knock, pound, bang”)), Danish banke (“to beat”), bengel (“club”), Low German bangen, bangeln (“to strike, beat”), West Frisian bingel, bongel, Dutch bengel (“bell; rascal”), German Bengel (“club”), bungen (“to throb, pulsate”). In the sense of a fringe of hair, from bang off. In the sense of abrupt left turn, from Boston left and associated risk of a crash.
To make sudden loud noises, often repeatedly, especially by exploding or hitting something.
The fireworks banged away all through the night.
Stop banging on the door. I heard you the first time!
To hit hard.
He banged the door shut.
David and Mary banged into each other.
To play a drum.
He banged his bongo in sync with the band.
To engage in sexual intercourse.
We can hear the couple banging upstairs.
To hammer or to hit anything hard.
Hold the picture while I bang in this nail.
To cut squarely across, as the tail of a horse, or a person's forelock; to cut (the hair).
To inject intravenously.
Do you smoke meth? No, I bang it.
To depress the prices in (a market).
To excel or surpass.
To be excellent; to be banging
This song bangs!
To fail, especially an exam; to flunk.
To make a turn in a vehicle; to hang a right, left, or uey.
Bang a right at the next stoplight.
To gangbang; to participate in street gang criminal activity.
You know I still bang.
To play a sport aggressively.
Where this word comes from
From Middle English *bangen, from Old English *bangian or borrowed from Old Norse banga (“to pound, hammer”); both from Proto-Germanic *bangōną (“to beat, pound”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰen- (“to beat, hit, injure”). Cognate with Scots bang, bung (“to strike, bang, hurl, thrash, offend”), Icelandic banga (“to pound, hammer”), Old Swedish bånga ("to hammer"; whence modern Swedish banka (“to knock, pound, bang”)), Danish banke (“to beat”), bengel (“club”), Low German bangen, bangeln (“to strike, beat”), West Frisian bingel, bongel, Dutch bengel (“bell; rascal”), German Bengel (“club”), bungen (“to throb, pulsate”). In the sense of a fringe of hair, from bang off. In the sense of abrupt left turn, from Boston left and associated risk of a crash.
Right, directly.
The passenger door was bang against the garage wall.
Precisely, exactly, completely.
He arrived bang on time.
With a sudden impact.
Distracted, he ran bang into the opening door.
Used as a general intensifier.
I'm bang up for it! (I'm very keen and willing to do it)
She's bang on it today. (She's on very good form today)
Where this word comes from
From Middle English *bangen, from Old English *bangian or borrowed from Old Norse banga (“to pound, hammer”); both from Proto-Germanic *bangōną (“to beat, pound”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰen- (“to beat, hit, injure”). Cognate with Scots bang, bung (“to strike, bang, hurl, thrash, offend”), Icelandic banga (“to pound, hammer”), Old Swedish bånga ("to hammer"; whence modern Swedish banka (“to knock, pound, bang”)), Danish banke (“to beat”), bengel (“club”), Low German bangen, bangeln (“to strike, beat”), West Frisian bingel, bongel, Dutch bengel (“bell; rascal”), German Bengel (“club”), bungen (“to throb, pulsate”). In the sense of a fringe of hair, from bang off. In the sense of abrupt left turn, from Boston left and associated risk of a crash.
A sudden percussive sound, such as made by the firing of a gun, slamming of a door, etc.
He pointed his finger at her like a gun and said, “Bang!”
Where this word comes from
From Middle English *bangen, from Old English *bangian or borrowed from Old Norse banga (“to pound, hammer”); both from Proto-Germanic *bangōną (“to beat, pound”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰen- (“to beat, hit, injure”). Cognate with Scots bang, bung (“to strike, bang, hurl, thrash, offend”), Icelandic banga (“to pound, hammer”), Old Swedish bånga ("to hammer"; whence modern Swedish banka (“to knock, pound, bang”)), Danish banke (“to beat”), bengel (“club”), Low German bangen, bangeln (“to strike, beat”), West Frisian bingel, bongel, Dutch bengel (“bell; rascal”), German Bengel (“club”), bungen (“to throb, pulsate”). In the sense of a fringe of hair, from bang off. In the sense of abrupt left turn, from Boston left and associated risk of a crash.
Archaic spelling of bhang.
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.