Definition of "junk" in English

noun

1. Miscellaneous items of little value, especially discarded or unwanted items.

   • This shed is full of junk – will you help me sort it out?
   • She needs to find a better place to keep her junk [= belongings].

2. (attributive) Material or resources of poor quality or low value, especially resources that lack commercial value.

   • junk food
   • junk fish; junk trees

3. Nonsense; gibberish.

   • The student put down junk for answers just to finish his homework more quickly.

4. (slang) Any narcotic drug, especially heroin.

5. (slang) The genitalia, especially of a male.

6. (nautical) Salt beef.

   • My physician has ordered me three pounds of minced salt-junk at every meal .

7. Pieces of old cable or cordage, used for making gaskets, mats, swabs, etc., and when picked to pieces, forming oakum for filling the seams of ships.

8. (dated, countable) A fragment of any solid substance; a thick piece; a chunk.

verb

1. (transitive, informal) To throw away.

2. (transitive, informal) To find something for very little money (meaning derived from the term junkshop)

   • (On Facebook, a record collector wrote:) "The newest addition to my Annette Hanshaw collection, I junked this beautiful flawless E-copy within walking distance from my house."

noun

1. (nautical) A Chinese sailing vessel.