The Collaborative International Dictionary
Bungee cord \Bun"gee cord\, n. a strong elastic cord, usually with a hook at each end, used as a shock-absorbing device or to bind packages together, as on a dolly or handcart.
Wiktionary
n. 1 A long elastic cord tied around the ankles of the jumper in bungee jumping. 2 An elastic fabric-bound strap with a hook at each end, used for securing luggage.
WordNet
n. an elasticized rope [syn: bungee]
Wikipedia
A bungee cord (sometimes spelled bungie), also known as a shock cord, (Occy strap / Octopus strap in Australian common usage) is an elastic cord composed of one or more elastic strands forming a core, usually covered in a woven cotton or polypropylene sheath. The sheath does not materially extend elastically, but it is braided with its strands spiraling around the core so that a longitudinal pull causes it to squeeze the core, transmitting the core's elastic compression to the longitudinal extension of the sheath and cord. Specialized bungees, such as some used in bungee jumping, may be made entirely of elastic strands.
Bungee cords have been used to provide a lightweight suspension for aircraft undercarriages from before World War I, and are still used on many small homebuilt aircraft where weight remains critical. Bungee cords were also used in parachuting to assist in opening the old-style parachute container after the ripcord was pulled.
Today, bungee cords are most often used to secure objects without tying knots and to absorb shock. Inexpensive bungee cords, with metal or plastic hooks on each end, are marketed as a general utility item. This form is also known as kangaroo, octopus, or "occy", straps in Australia. These can be an individual strap, or a set of four hooked straps held together by a metal ring allowing the occy strap to secure items around various tie points, for example a suitcase to a car roof rack. Extensions of the concept are available as a coarse net of bungee cords with metal or plastic hooks around the periphery, for securing irregularly shaped loads of luggage and cargo on the backs of pickup trucks, roofs of cars, and so on.
Bungee cords have also been used to make bungee chairs and for other purposes.
The origin of the name "bungee", bungie" or "bungy" is uncertain. The Oxford English Dictionary records the use in 1938 of the phrase bungee-launching of gliders using an elasticized cord.
Usage examples of "bungee cord".
Dan examined each one, then dislodged a tiny pair of scissors from behind a bungee cord.
I pulled it up slowly and found it attached to a bungee cord, coiled like a snake beneath some dried grass.
As it passed over, the hook caught the wire strung between the telegraph poles and whisked off the Gladstone bag and the painting, the bungee cord taking the initial strain out of the pick-up.
Feeling that bungee cord whip you up just two seconds from the ground is one thing, looking into the eyes of a man with a knife is another.
It was a standard Huey, with the side doors stripped off and a heavy machine-gun hung on a bungee cord in each open doorway.
But up and back at the present state of the art, plus time to explore the surface, might take as long as three years, and I wonder if three men could survive with only dehydrated food and a bungee cord to exercise their legs?
This ascender was tied to a thin bungee cord and hooked over the shoulder.
It's just that the spectacles had declined toHackworth his own bungee cord, just to add an extra frisson towhole experience.
He was supposed to exercise by pulling on the bungee cord and then take his blood pressure.
The guy what was playin Jesus ascendin into heaven was standin there drinkin a soda pop, waitin for his act to start, when all of a sudden the bungee cord snatched him up an flung him into the sky.
Bell said and cinched his seat belt tight as a bungee cord harness.
Stavrand fastened his ten-speed to the rear deck of the car with a bungee cord and perched on the turret, holding on to one of the welded brackets and looking like a Stockholm-gargoyle rendering of Alfred Nobel, or possibly the patron saint of demolitions.