I. ˈjəŋk noun
( -s )
Usage: often attributive
Etymology: Middle English jonke
1.
a. obsolete : a piece of worn or poor rope or cable
b. : pieces of old cable or old cordage used for making such articles as gaskets, mats, swabs, or oakum
c. chiefly Britain : a thick piece or chunk of something : hunk
a junk of cold salt mutton — E.O.Schlunke
d. : hard salted beef supplied to ships
e. : a part of the head of a sperm whale between the case and the white horse containing oil and spermaceti
2.
a.
(1) : old iron, glass, paper, cordage, or other waste that may be treated so as to be used again in some form
one third of the cars … are close to junk in value — Nation's Business
sold the old wreck for junk
(2) : secondhand, worn, or discarded articles of any kind having little or no commercial value
furnished the room with junk obtained from relatives
b. : a product regarded as shoddy, cheap or specious : something without intrinsic value : trash ; specifically : junk jewelry
real jewelry, not junk from Paris — Rose Thurburn
newest junk trinkets … made for her in Paris — Lois Long
c. : something devoid of meaning or significance : bunk , hokum , nonsense
read no more junk — Nathaniel Benchley
will have nothing to do with protocol, formalities, and all that junk
3. : fish 5e
4. slang : narcotics ; especially : heroin
II. transitive verb
( -ed/-ing/-s )
: to abandon or get rid of as no longer of value or use : scrap
a dislike to junk partially depreciated equipment — Harold Koontz & Cyril O'Donnell
became the first big maker of electric appliances to junk fair-trade pricing — Newsweek
Synonyms: see discard
III. noun
( -s )
Etymology: Portuguese junco, from Javanese joṅ
: any of various characteristic boats of Chinese and neighboring waters having as common features bluff lines, very high poop and overhanging stem, little or no keel, usually high pole masts carrying lug sails with battens running entirely across, and a rudder usually dropping below the keel
[s]junk.jpg[/s]
IV. noun
1. : junk bond herein
2. : baseball pitches that break or are off-speed (as curve balls or change-ups)