hunky-dory - meaning and definition. What is hunky-dory
Diclib.com
ChatGPT AI Dictionary
Enter a word or phrase in any language 👆
Language:

Translation and analysis of words by ChatGPT artificial intelligence

On this page you can get a detailed analysis of a word or phrase, produced by the best artificial intelligence technology to date:

  • how the word is used
  • frequency of use
  • it is used more often in oral or written speech
  • word translation options
  • usage examples (several phrases with translation)
  • etymology

What (who) is hunky-dory - definition

DECORATIVE CARVING ON BUILDINGS IN SOMERSET, ENGLAND
Hunky Punk; Hunky-punk
  • The 15th-century tower of [[St Mary, Yarlington]], [[Somerset]], with [[crocket]] pinnacles and hunky punks on the corners.

hunky-dory      
¦ adjective informal completely satisfactory.
Origin
C19 (orig. US): hunky from Du. honk 'home' (in games); the origin of dory is unknown.
Hunky         
WIKIMEDIA DISAMBIGUATION PAGE
Hunky (disambiguation)
·add. ·adj All right; in a good condition; also, even; square.
Hunky punk         
A hunky punk is grotesque carvings on the sides of buildings, especially Late Gothic churches. Such features are especially numerous in Somerset (in the West Country of England).

Wikipedia

Hunky punk

A hunky punk is a grotesque carving on the side of a building, especially Late Gothic churches. Such features are especially numerous in Somerset (in the West Country of England).

Though similar in appearance to a gargoyle, a hunky punk is purely decorative, with no other functional purpose (often referred to as a grotesque). A gargoyle is not strictly a hunky punk, because a gargoyle serves to drain water off the roof through its mouth. An example might be found at the corner of a church tower, along the coping ridge below any castellations. Often there are carvings on each corner, yet the roof may only drain in one direction and so there might be three hunky punks and one true gargoyle.

Hunky punks are often short squatting figures typical of those found in some Somerset churches; however, hunky punks come in many shapes and sizes, mostly in middle to late medieval construction onwards. Some theories consider that the balance of good and evil in church design was to remind worshippers of the narrow path they tread, which was present in everything. This supposes that, for every good and benign creature (such as a saint or an animal) to signify purity, there had to be an opposite to bring out the fear of evil. In York Minster, for example, the carvings in the chapter house, which are particularly obscene and which were supposedly created as caricatures of the then dean and chapter, were put there above the seats to create an opposite to each occupant, who one might like to assume was not in fact the foul person their carvings made them out to be.

The origin of the term hunky punk has been ascribed to the words hunkers (meaning 'haunches') and punchy ('short-legged').

Examples of use of hunky-dory
1. "Let‘s assume everything is hunky dory with his views now," he said.
2. This does not mean everything is hunky–dory by a long stretch of the imagination.
3. But all has not always been hunky dory for the star of the millennium.
4. And apart from that, my dear, everything is hunky–dory: They hate us, therefore we exist.
5. "If you take that to mean that everything‘s hunky dory . . . that would be absurd.