conk

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noun

1. The uppermost part of the body: head, noddle, pate, poll. Slang bean, block, dome, noggin, noodle, nut. See body/spirit.
2. A sudden sharp, powerful stroke: bang, blow, clout, crack, hit, lick, pound, slug, sock, swat, thwack, welt, whack, wham, whop. Informal bash, biff, bop, clip, wallop. Slang belt, paste. See attack/defend, strike/miss.

verb

To deliver a powerful blow to suddenly and sharply: bash, catch, clout, hit, knock, pop, slam, slog, slug, smash, smite, sock, strike, swat, thwack, whack, wham, whop. Informal biff, bop, clip, wallop. Slang belt, paste. Idioms: let someone have it, sock it to someone,, attack/defend, strike/miss.

phrasal verb - conk out

1. To cease functioning properly: break down, fail, give out. See thrive/fail/exist.
2. To suddenly lose all health or strength: break (down), cave in, collapse, crack, drop, give out, succumb. Informal crack up. Idioms: give way. See health/sickness.

Tutor's tip: A "conch" (an edible mollusk notable for its spiral shaped shell) shell was used to give him that "conk" (a blow on the head) on the head.

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1. conk
   noun
   
   1: The nose. (1812 —) .
   Tiresias We soon become familiar with the regulars:...the keen young one whose hat is too big; the lugubrious one with the Cyrano de Bergerac conk (1984).
   
   2: The head. So off one's conk, off one's head, crazy. (1870 —) .
   H. Pinter Why are you getting on everybody's wick? Why are you driving that old lady off her conk? (1959).
   
   [Perh. a fig. application of conch type of shell.]
2. conk
   verb intr.
   
   Formerly also konk. To break down, fail; to die, collapse, or lose consciousness; mainly with out. (1917 —) .
   M. Herzog I told Lionel that rather than conk out next day on the slope, it seemed far better for me to go down (1952).
   
   [Origin unknown.]
3. conk
   Also konk
   verb trans., orig US, African-American
   
   To straighten (curly hair). (1944 —) .
   New Yorker He conked his hair to a sleek russet straightness (1992).
   
   [From congolene, the name of a chemical application for straightening hair.]

• Hair Styles - conk: naturally curly hair chemically processed to be straight, esp. among African-Americans
• Descriptions of Sounds

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Jazz musician Eddie South, 1946

For the fungus, see conk (fungi). For gastropod or its shell, see conch.

The conk (derived from congolene, a hair straightener gel made from lye) was a hairstyle popular among African-American men from the 1920s to the 1960s. This hairstyle called for a man with naturally "kinky" hair to have it chemically straightened using a relaxer (sometimes the pure corrosive chemical lye), so that the newly straightened hair could be styled in specific ways. Often, the relaxer was made at home, by mixing lye, eggs, and potatoes, the applier having to wear gloves and the receiver's head having to be rinsed thoroughly after application to avoid chemical burns. Conks were often styled as large pompadours although other men chose to simply slick their straightened hair back, allowing it to lie flat on their heads. Regardless of the styling, conks required a considerable amount of effort to maintain: a man often had to wear a do-rag of some sort at home, to prevent sweat or other agents from causing his hair to revert to its natural state prematurely. Also, the style required repeated application of relaxers; as new hair grew in, it too had to be chemically straightened.

Many of the popular musicians of the early to mid 20th century, including Chuck Berry, Louis Jordan, Little Richard, James Brown, and the members of The Temptations and The Miracles, were well known for sporting the conk hairstyle. The gatefold of the 1968 album Electric Mud shows blues legend Muddy Waters having his hair conked. The style fell out of popularity when the Black Power movement of the 1960s took hold, and the Afro became a popular symbol of African pride. The conk was a major plot device in Spike Lee's film biography Malcolm X, based upon Malcolm X's own condemnation of the hairstyle as black self-degradation in his autobiography because of its implications about the superiority of a more "white" appearance and because of the pain the process causes and the possibility of receiving severe burns to the scalp.

The conk is all but extinct as a hairstyle among African-American men today, although more mildly relaxed hairstyles such as the Jheri curl and the S-curl were popular during the 1980s and 1990s. While not involving the use of chemical relaxers, the "wave" style, commonly worn by young African-American men and teens today may be considered to be a new version of the conk, in that the natural hair is waved through use of pomades and pressing flattened curls [formed] into place using a do rag.

v t e Human hair List of hairstyles ‎ List of facial hairstyles Body type Lanugo Androgenic Terminal Vellus Hairstyles Afro textured hair Afro Artificial hair integrations Asymmetric cut Backcombing Beehive Big hair Blowout Bob cut Bouffant Bowl cut Braid or Plait Bun Odango Bunches Butch cut Buzz cut Caesar cut Chonmage Comb over Conk Cornrows Crew cut Crop Croydon facelift Curly hair Curtained hair Devilock Dice Bob Dido flip Digital perm Dreadlocks Duck's Ass Dutch braid Emo Hair Fauxhawk Feathered hair Finger wave Flattop Fontange French twist Bangs / Fringe Highlights High and tight Hime cut Historical Christian hairstyles Hi-top fade Induction cut Jarhead Jewfro Jheri curl Layered hair Liberty spikes Long hair Mohawk Mop-Top Mullet Oseledets Pageboy Part Perm Pigtail Pixie cut Pompadour Ponytail Quiff "The Rachel" Rattail Razor cut Ringlet Shag Shape-Up Spiky hair Straight hair Tonsure Updo }Waves Facial hair Beard Chin curtain Chinstrap Goatee Handlebar moustache Moustache Neckbeard Shenandoah Sideburns Soul patch Stubble Toothbrush moustache Van Dyke Other areas Head Underarm Chest Abdominal Pubic Leg Nose Hair loss Baldness Glabrousness Hair removal waxing threading laser IPL chemical electric Shaving head leg Razor Conditions Alopecia Hypertrichosis Trichophilia Trichotillomania Related Hairstyle Hairdresser Barber Long hair Hair color Bearded lady Category Hair

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Dansk (Danish)
1.
n. - næse, hoved
v. tr. - slå

2.
v. intr. - gå i stå, besvime, kradse af, falde i søvn

idioms:

• conk out    gå i stå, besvime, falde i søvn

3.
n. - rodfordærver

4.
n. - udglattet hår
v. tr. - udglatte kruset hår

Nederlands (Dutch)
snufferd, kop, opdonder, een klap geven (op neus/ hoofd etc.)

Français (French)
1.
n. - (GB) pif, tronche
v. tr. - faire un gnon à (qn), frapper (sur la tête)

2.
v. intr. - tomber en panne

idioms:

• conk out    tomber en panne, s'endormir, s'évanouir, (US) mourir

3.
n. - structure du bois (détérioré par un parasite)

4.
n. - (US) coiffure décrêpée
v. tr. - décrêper (cheveux)

Deutsch (German)
1.
n. - Kopf, Nase, Schlag auf den Kopf od. die Nase
v. - jmdm. eins auf den Kopf od. die Nase geben

2.
v. - (ugs) kaputtgehen

idioms:

• conk out    den Geist aufgeben, ausfallen

3.
n. - konsolenförmige Pilz-Fruchtkörper, Holzfäule

4.
n. - Glattheit
v. - glätten (Haare)

Ελληνική (Greek)
v. - ακινητοποιούμαι από βλάβη, σβήνω, πέφτω ξερός
n. - μυτάρα, μυταρόλα, κούτρα, γκλάβα, (καθομ.) γροθιά στη μύτη

idioms:

• conk out    (καθομ.) πέφτω ξερός (από κούραση κ.λπ.), σταματώ να λειτουργώ λόγω βλάβης

Italiano (Italian)
idioms:

• conk out    incepparsi, guastarsi, addormentarsi

Português (Portuguese)
v. - bater (gír.)
n. - nariz (m) grande (gír.)

idioms:

• conk out    enguiçar

Русский (Russian)
отключиться, загнуться, заглохнуть

idioms:

• conk out    заглохнуть

Español (Spanish)
1.
n. - nariz, cabeza
v. tr. - golpear en la cabeza

2.
v. intr. - dejar de funcionar

idioms:

• conk out    estropearse, averiarse

3.
n. - estructura de cierto hongo de la madera

4.
n. - estilo de peinado, laciado
v. tr. - laciar

Svenska (Swedish)
v. - slå på nöten, rakpermanenta
n. - kran (sl.), skalle, slag på nöten (sl.)

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
1. 鼻, 打击...之头部

2. 突然故障, 精疲力尽, 睡去, 昏过去

idioms:

• conk out    故障, 突然失灵

3. 真菌生长

4. 头, 敲...的头

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
1.
v. intr. - 突然故障, 精疲力盡, 睡去, 昏過去

idioms:

• conk out    故障, 突然失靈

2.
n. - 頭
v. tr. - 敲...的頭

3.
n. - 真菌生長

4.
n. - 鼻
v. tr. - 打擊...之頭部

한국어 (Korean)
1.
n. - 머리, 코
v. tr. - 머리나 코를 때리다

2.
v. intr. - 고장 나다

idioms:

• conk out    고장

3.
n. - 특정 나무를 쇠퇴 시키는 균류의 조직

4.
n. - 곱슬머리를 펴서 살짝 웨이브한 머리스타일
v. tr. - 곱슬머리를 펴다

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 鼻, 頭
v. - 頭を殴る

idioms:

• conk out    止まる

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(فعل) ضرب بقوة (خاصه على الرأس, ) (الاسم) أنف‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮חוטם, ראש‬
v. tr. - ‮היכה על הראש, חבט, הכה‬
v. intr. - ‮התעלף, הפסיק לפעול, האט, נעצר, איבד אנרגיה, שכב לישון, מת‬
n. - ‮גוף של סוג מסוים של פטריות מרקיבות עצים, מדף‬
n. - ‮שיטה ליישור כימי של השיער, שיער שיושר או סולסל בשיטה כימית‬
v. tr. - ‮יישר שיער מתולתל באמצעות כימיקלים‬

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