conkers

con·ker ¹

 (kŏng′kər) Chiefly British

n.

1. A horse chestnut.

2. con·kers A game in which two players swing horse chestnuts strung on string, each trying to use his or her horse chestnut to shatter his or her opponent's.

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[From British English dialectal conker, snail shell used in the original form of the game of conkers (in which two snail shells were pressed together until one broke), either from alteration of conqueror, one that conquers, hard snail shell that had won many games of conkers, or from variant of conch, or from a combination of both .]

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con·ker ²

 (kŏng′kər)

n.

One that conks or hits.

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[conk + -er.]

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con·ker ³

 (kŏng′kər)

n.

One that conks, as when styling hair.

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[conk + -er.]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

conkers

(ˈkɒŋkəz)

n

(Games, other than specified) (functioning as singular) Brit a game in which a player swings a horse chestnut (conker), threaded onto a string, against that of another player to try to break it

[C19: from dialect conker snail shell, originally used in the game]

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014