junk

Etymology 1

From earlier meaning "old refuse from boats and ships", from Middle English junk, jounke, jonk, joynk (“an old cable or rope”, nautical term), sometimes cut into bits and used as caulking; of uncertain origin; perhaps related to join, joint, juncture. Often compared to Middle English junk, jonk, jonke, junck (“a rush; basket made of rushes”), from Old French jonc, from Latin iuncus (“rush, reed”), however the Oxford English Dictionary finds "no evidence of connexion".

noun

1. Discarded or waste material; rubbish, trash, garbage.
   What a piece of junk! 1977, George Lucas, Star Wars: A New Hope, spoken by Luke Skywalker
   In America alone, people spent $170 billion on “direct marketing”—junk mail of both the physical and electronic varieties—last year. Yet of those who received unsolicited adverts through the post, only 3% bought anything as a result. 2013-05-25, “No hiding place”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8837, page 74
2. A collection of miscellaneous items of little value.
3. (slang) Any narcotic drug, especially heroin.
4. (slang) The genitalia, especially of a male.
   I'm talking about everybody getting crunk, crunk / Boys tryin' to touch my junk, junk / Gonna smack him if he getting too drunk, drunk 2009, “Tik Tok”, performed by Kesha
   But what to do about a kid who flashes his privates at your child? And worse, how do you make sure your kid does not reciprocate? That's exactly the dilemma one mom faced when she learned that her 5-year-old neighbor had flashed his "junk" at her two sons and then made them swear not to tell. Apr 18, 2019, Genny Glassman, “Parent Torn After Discovering 5-Year-Old Neighbor 'Flashed' Kids & Told Them to Keep It a Secret”, in CafeMom
   Got a spot on the voice, I'm a neo punk / Old ladies cum when I flash my junk 2023, “Neo Punk”, in Every Loser, performed by Iggy Pop
5. (nautical) Salt beef.
   My physician has ordered me three pounds of minced salt-junk at every meal . c. 1851-1852, James Russell Lowell, Leaves from My Journal in Italy and Elsewhere
6. 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.
7. (dated) A fragment of any solid substance; a thick piece; a chunk.
8. (attributive) Material or resources of a kind lacking commercial value.
   junk fish
   junk trees
9. Nonsense; gibberish.
   The student put down junk for answers just to finish his homework more quickly.

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."

Etymology 2

From Portuguese junco or Dutch jonk (or reinforced), from Arabic جُنْك (junk), from Malay or Javanese djong, variant of djung, from Old Javanese jong (“seagoing ship”).

noun

1. (nautical) A Chinese sailing vessel.