What is "conk"

conk \conk\ (k[o^][ng]k), n.

1. the head. [slang]

2. a blow to the head. [slang]

conk \conk\ (k[o^][ng]k), v. t. to hit on the head; as, to conk someone on the head with a pipe. [slang]

as in conk out, 1918, coined by World War I airmen, perhaps in imitation of the sound of a stalling motor, reinforced by conk (v.) "hit on the head," originally "punch in the nose" (1821), from conk (n.), slang for "nose" (1812), perhaps from fancied resemblance to a conch (pronounced "conk") shell.

alt. 1 The shelf- or bracket-shaped fruiting body of a ''Bracket fungus'' (A.K.A. ''Shelf fungus''), ''i.e.'', a mushroom growing off a tree trunk. 2 (context slang English) A nose, especially a large one. 3 (alternative spelling of conch English) n. 1 The shelf- or bracket-shaped fruiting body of a ''Bracket fungus'' (A.K.A. ''Shelf fungus''), ''i.e.'', a mushroom growing off a tree trunk. 2 (context slang English) A nose, especially a large one. 3 (alternative spelling of conch English) vb. 1 (context slang English) To hit, especially on the head. 2 To chemically straighten tightly curled hair.

1. v. come to a stop; "The car stalled in the driveway" [syn: stall]

2. hit, especially on the head; "The stranger conked him and he fainted"

3. die; "The old man finally kicked the bucket" [syn: kick the bucket, cash in one's chips, buy the farm, give-up the ghost, drop dead, pop off, choke, croak, snuff it]

4. pass out from weakness, physical or emotional distress due to a loss of blood supply to the brain [syn: faint, swoon, pass out]

n. informal term for the nose

The conk (derived from congolene, a hair straightener gel made from lye) was a hairstyle popular among African-American men from the 1920s to the 1960s. This hairstyle called for a man with naturally "kinky" hair to have it chemically straightened using a relaxer (sometimes the pure corrosive chemical lye), so that the newly straightened hair could be styled in specific ways. Often, the relaxer was made at home, by mixing lye, eggs, and potatoes, the applier having to wear gloves and the receiver's head having to be rinsed thoroughly after application to avoid chemical burns. Conks were often styled as large pompadours although other men chose to simply slick their straightened hair back, allowing it to lie flat on their heads. Regardless of the styling, conks required a considerable amount of effort to maintain: a man often had to wear a do-rag of some sort at home, to prevent sweat or other agents from causing his hair to revert to its natural state prematurely. Also, the style required repeated application of relaxers; as new hair grew in, it too had to be chemically straightened.

Many of the popular musicians of the early to mid 20th century, including Chuck Berry, Louis Jordan, Little Richard, James Brown, and the members of The Temptations and The Miracles, were well known for sporting the conk hairstyle. The gatefold of the 1968 album Electric Mud shows blues legend Muddy Waters having his hair conked. The style fell out of popularity when the Black Power movement of the 1960s took hold, and the Afro became a popular symbol of African pride. The conk was a major plot device in Spike Lee's film biography Malcolm X, based upon Malcolm X's own condemnation of the hairstyle as black self-degradation in his autobiography because of its implications about the superiority of a more "white" appearance and because of the pain the process causes and the possibility of receiving severe burns to the scalp.

The conk is all but extinct as a hairstyle among African-American men today, although more mildly relaxed hairstyles such as the Jheri curl and the S-curl were popular during the 1980s and 1990s. While not involving the use of chemical relaxers, the " wave" style, commonly worn by young African-American men and teens in the 2000s may be considered to be a new version of the conk, in that the natural hair is waved through use of pomades and pressing flattened curls [formed] into place using a do rag.