[Of unknown etymology; possibly related to BANK: cf. BUNKER. Skeat compares OSw. bunke boarding to protect the cargo of a ship from the weather (Ihre). Cf. also BULK sb.2]
1. A box or recess in a ship’s cabin, railway-carriage, lodging-house, etc., serving for a bed; a sleeping-berth.
1815. Chron., in Ann. Reg., 58/2. He suddenly fell back upon his bunk.
1859. R. Burton, Centr. Afr., in Jrnl. Geogr. Soc., XXIX. 47. Some houses have a second story like a ship’s bunk.
1862. B. Taylor, Home & Abr., Ser. II. IV. 363. The Summit House … where travellers can pass the night in comfortable bunks.
1866. Harvard Mem. Biog., Peabody, I. 165. At the end of the train, a blue car … one end of which is decorated with bunks and shelves, which serve as sleeping apartments.
1879. Dixon, Brit. Cyprus, ix. 79. I am lying in a bunk, on board the flag-ship.
2. ‘A piece of wood placed on a lumberman’s sled to enable it to sustain the end of heavy pieces of timber. Maine (U.S.).’ Bartlett.
