bunch
Pluralbunches
Verbbunches, bunching, bunched
Pluralbunches
Formsbunches, bunching, bunched
- 1A large number or amount of people or things; a lot.
A bunch of us are heading to the beach tomorrow.
She asked a bunch of questions during the meeting.
Usagea bunch of + a plural or uncountable noun: a bunch of questions, a bunch of work. With people the verb is usually plural: a bunch of us are going.
- 2A group of similar things growing together or held together in a cluster.
He handed her a bunch of fresh flowers at the door.
The florist arranged several bunches into a single tall display.
UsageUsed for things held or growing together: a bunch of flowers, grapes, bananas or keys.
- 3An informal group of people, especially friends, coworkers, or others who spend time together.
The old bunch from college still gets together every summer.
My new coworkers are a friendly bunch, and they made me feel welcome right away.
UsageUsually with an adjective that sets the tone: a friendly bunch, a strange bunch, the whole bunch.
Similargang, crowd, crew, group, circle
Note
A casual word for one's circle, and it turns warm or scornful depending on the words around it. "The old bunch" sounds affectionate. Robert W. Chambers, in The Younger Set (1907), writes of a "deadly, idle, brainless bunch", and the noun carries that contempt just as easily.
- 4To gather things or people closely together into a group or cluster, or to come together in this way.
When the wind picked up, the hikers began to bunch together behind the guide to stay warm.
Workers bunch the cut stems before packing them into boxes.
UsageOften bunch together or bunch up: the runners bunched up at the start.
- 5The main group of riders that forms during a bicycle race.
The sprinter stayed hidden in the bunch until the final stretch.
A crash near the front split the bunch into two groups.
UsageUsually the bunch: riders sit in the bunch or break away from it.
Note
Racing's plainer English for the peloton: the large pack of riders who travel close together so that each can shelter in another's slipstream and save energy. It is defined partly by what it is not. Any rider or small group that escapes ahead is a breakaway, and the bunch is the main group riding behind it.
Checked 6 Nov 2026 · 4 facts
- Bunch is another term for the peloton. en.wikipedia.org
- Riders conserve energy by riding close together in others' slipstreams. en.wikipedia.org
- A rider or group escaping ahead of the peloton is a breakaway. tourofamericasdairyland.com
- The bunch is the main group behind the breakaway; other riders may be detached behind the bunch or riding between it and the breakaway. en.wikipedia.org
Less common meanings
- 6Of fabric or similar material, to gather or be gathered into a mass of folds.
The fabric bunched where the seam was sewn too tight.
Cheap shirts often bunch under the arms after one wash.
UsageOften bunch up, or bunch at or around a place: bunched at the waist, around the ankle.
- 7To stick out or swell into a rounded lump or bulge.
His shoulders bunched with effort as he hauled the load.
The muscles in his forearms bunch every time he grips the oars.
Note
Swelling is where the word began, in the hump or lump, and this verb keeps that shape, often with out. John Woodward, in 1729, describes a nodule "bunching out into a large round Knob at one end". Muscles and roots bunch in the same way: the mass gathers and pushes outward rather than spreading flat.
Checked 6 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
- John Woodward's 1729 work describes a nodule using the quoted wording. en.wiktionary.org
- The quotation accurately describes the nodule's protruding shape. en.wiktionary.org
- 8A raised lump, knob, or swelling on a surface.
Similarlump, swelling, bump, knob, knot
Note
The oldest meaning in the word: Middle English bunche meant "hump, swelling". Its origin is uncertain, perhaps from a Germanic word for a heap, and the cluster senses may have grown from that idea of a gathered mass. The King James Bible of 1611 speaks of treasures carried "upon the bunches of camels". Today hump or lump is the everyday choice for this meaning.
Checked 6 Nov 2026 · 4 facts
- Middle English bunche meant hump or swelling, and its origin is uncertain. en.wiktionary.org
- A Germanic word meaning heap is a proposed source. en.wiktionary.org
- The King James Bible was first published in 1611. en.wikipedia.org
- The King James Bible describes treasures carried upon the bunches of camels. en.wikisource.org
- 9A seventeenth-century unit of Rhenish glass, sixty of which made up one way or web.
Note
An obsolete measure that belongs only to historical writing about the glass trade, where shipments and stock were reckoned first in bunches and then in ways or webs. A reader meeting it in an old merchant's account should take it as a fixed count, not a loose handful. Modern writing has no use for it outside that history.
Checked 6 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
- Bunch was an obsolete glass measure, counted in larger units called ways or webs. en.wiktionary.org
- In this sense, bunch denotes a defined counting unit. en.wiktionary.org
- 10A group of logs fastened together to be dragged from a felling site.
- 11A cigar in its unfinished state, before the outer wrapper leaf is applied.
- 12An unusual concentration of ore, or a small isolated patch of ore within the surrounding rock.
- 13The reserve yarn on a filling bobbin that keeps weaving going until a fresh bobbin replaces the old one.
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Origin
From Middle English bunche or bonche ("hump, swelling"), of uncertain origin. It may be a variant of a word from Proto-Germanic *bunkō ("heap, crowd"), or perhaps from a form of "bump," or from dialectal Old French bonge ("bundle").
Checked 6 Nov 2026 · 4 facts
- The Middle English forms were bunche and bonche, meaning hump or swelling; their origin is uncertain. en.wiktionary.org
- One proposed derivation connects bunch with Proto-Germanic *bunkō, meaning heap or crowd. en.wiktionary.org
- Another proposed derivation is from a form of bump. en.wiktionary.org
- Dialectal Old French bonge, meaning bundle, is another proposed source. en.wiktionary.org