bun·ker / ˈbəngkər/ • n. 1. a large container or compartment for storing fuel: a coal bunker. ∎  (bunkers) fuel for a ship.2. a reinforced underground shelter, typically for use in wartime.3. a hollow filled with sand, used as an obstacle on a golf course.• v. [tr.] 1. fuel (a ship).2. (be bunkered) Golf (of a player) have one's ball lodged in a bunker: he was bunkered at the fifth hole.

bunker chest or box often serving as a seat XVI (Sc. boncure, etc.; bunker XVII); sandy hollow on a golf-course XIX; storage room for coal or oil fuel XIX. Not Eng. before XIX; of unkn. orig.