gong

Etymology 1

From Malay gong, possibly onomatopoeic.

noun

1. (music) A percussion instrument consisting of a metal disk that emits a sonorous sound when struck with a soft hammer.
2. (Britain, slang) A medal or award, particularly Knight Bachelor.
3. A metal target that emits a sound when it has been hit.

verb

1. (intransitive) To make the sound of a gong; to ring a gong.
   Poor old Pyecraft! He has just gonged, no doubt to order another buttered tea-cake! 1903, H. G. Wells, The Truth About Pyecraft
2. (transitive) To send a signal to, using a gong or similar device.
   1. To halt (originally, a contestant in a talent show; later, a performer, a speaker).
      As she was gonged, host Daryl Somers swept rapidly across and salvaged an embarrassing situation by putting his arm around her and asking her whether she had children. 1996, Stephanie Holt, Maryanne Lynch, Motherlode
   2. To warn.
      The driver gonged the pedestrian crossing the tracks, but the pedestrian didn't stop.
3. (Britain, slang, transitive) To give an award or medal to.
   In 1972 he was awarded the British Red Cross Silver Medal for his services to the Red Cross. In 1978 he was 'gonged' once again, this time with the Queen's Jubilee Medal, marking the 25th year of her reign. 1997, Peter Stone, The Lady and the President, page 147

Etymology 2

table From Middle English gong, from Old English gong, where it was originally a variant of the noun gang (“a going, walk, journey, way, etc.”), derived from the verb gangan (“to go, walk, travel”), whose relation to go in Proto-Germanic remains unclear. Doublet of gang.

noun

1. (obsolete) An outhouse: an outbuilding used as a lavatory.
   Þaða he to gange com. c. 1000, Aelfric, Homilies, Vol. I, p. 290
   I knoweleche to the that ther nys no goonge more stynkynge thenne my soule is. c. 1400, The Lay Folks Mass Book, Appendix iii, p. 125
   The Iewe of Tewkysbury which fell into a Gonge vpon the Satyrday. a. 1513, Robert Fabyan, New Cronycles of Englande and of Fraunce, volume II, page xxxii
   A stately Toye, a preciows peece of pellfe, a. 1577, George Gascoigne, Grief of Joye, Vol. II, § lxii
2. (obsolete) The contents of an outhouse pit: shit.

Etymology 3

From Mandarin 功 (gōng, “merit; achievement”).

noun

1. (uncountable) A kind of cultivation energy, more powerful than qi.
2. (uncountable) An advanced practice that cultivates such energy.