subs. (travelling showmen’s).—A short, steep hill. [Possibly only a provincialism, or an obsolete form of ‘bank.’]
1876. C. HINDLEY, ed. The Life and Adventures of a Cheap Jack, 302. In Lancashire, Yorkshire, Derbyshire, and Staffordshire the approaches to some of the large works are either up or down some steep, short hill, usually termed ‘BONK,’ and the drivers of heavily laden carts with two horses have the breeching on the leading chain-horse, as well as the horse in the shafts, so that when they are going down one of these steep ‘BONKS,’ the horse is as useful as a help in drawing up.
