honking

adj. very large; whopping; as an intensifier or in an adverbial role, very. Subjects: English, Colloquial

Editorial Note: It is unclear in the 1974 citation whether the cars had honking horns or were seen as large compared to the European automobiles.

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Citations: 1973 Road Test (Mar.) “Changing Modes” p. 115 @ Charger Muscle Portfolio 1966-1974 (1995) R.M. Clarke: The engines which powered these cars were big honking monsters with names like the 426 hemi. [1974 Don Haines Frederick Post (Md.) (July 18) “Spotlight on Speed” p. C3: Along with the big honking ’Vettes and Camaros and other mundane racers were the pale blue Matra-Simcas being massaged by crews.] 1983 Usenet: net.politics (July 27) “Re: war in the americas”: Walk softly, Henry, but carry big honkin’ cluster bombs. 1986 Peter McWilliams Chicago Tribune (Jan. 26) “Will This Little Printer Make Big Time?” p. 2: Do you take a big honking printer that weighs more than your computer, and possibly more than your wife? 1999 Sandra Byrd Petal Power (Mar. 16) p. 70: That’s going to be one honking, large happy card for ten dollars. 1999 Adam Rapp Copper Elephant (Dec.) p. 166: The color would be so honking ugly that it wouldn’t have a name. 2003 Debbie Moose News & Observer (Raleigh, N.C.) (June 22) “That primordial desire for burgers” p. D10: Honking big burgers take too long to cook all the way through, which gives the exterior an opportunity to burn. 2005 T.R. Pearson Glad News of the Natural World (Apr. 18) p. 280: Mrs.Phillip J. King decided she’d take the candlestick off the mantel, the big ugly honking thing I’d already given to Deputy Dale. 2005 Mike Strobel Toronto Sun (Can.) (Oct. 7) “All that’s fit to print”: “This is what did it for me,” she says, and pulls out a honking big back massager. Aficionados call it The Cadillac.

Posted 14 Oct 05 | Permalink | Tell a Friend

Reader comments:

I always assumed there was a connection to honker meaning ‘very large nose’. I see enough Googlehits for “big honkin(g) nose” to suggest that others have made the same connection.

by Ben Zimmer 14 Oct 05, 0411 GMT

Here’s another early automotive cite — since “(big) honking” is used in reference to engines, it’s unlikely that it has anything to do with honking horns.

1973 Road Test (Mar.) “Changing Modes” in Charger Muscle Portfolio 1966-1974 (1995) p. 115: The engines which powered these cars were big honking monsters with names like the 426 hemi.

by Ben Zimmer 14 Oct 05, 0435 GMT

Thanks, Ben. That last cite is great.

I acknowledge the fact that people make the connection to honker, but so far there’s no evidence that “honking” was first used to describe noses.

by Grant Barrett 14 Oct 05, 0439 GMT

For fans of sci-fi and/or MacGuyver, “big honkin’ space-gun” was a term frequently used by former “Stargate SG-1” lead, Col. Jack O’Neill, played by Richard Dean Anderson.

by Cleo the Muse 17 Oct 05, 0749 GMT

Reference to honking. This was used to refer to the big bore engined cars which in racing trip would often actually shake the ground. So honking was being used by me as an adjative describing how awesome these cars were, especially compared to the small engined European cars.

by Don Haines 08 Mar 06, 0317 GMT