gunny

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English

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Pronunciation

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Etymology 1

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From Hindi and Marathi गनी (ganī) or गोन (gon), from Sanskrit गोणी (goṇī), ultimately of Dravidian origin.

Noun

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gunny (usually uncountable, plural gunnies)

  1. (uncountable) A coarse heavy fabric made of jute or hemp.
    • 1946 September and October, “Notes and News: Light Railways in India”, in Railway Magazine, page 316:
      Traffic is brisk, and goods consists of rice, gunny (hessian), maize and native implements.
    • 1974, Lawrence Durrell, Monsieur, Faber & Faber, published 1992, page 102:
      Provisions were ferried by camel in stout sacks of gunny with blocks of ice packed round them; a herculean task.
  2. (countable) A gunny sack.
Derived terms
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Translations
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Etymology 2

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A shortening of gunnery sergeant

Noun

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gunny (plural gunnies)

  1. (countable, informal) A gunnery sergeant.
    • 2004, Buzz Williams, Spare parts: a marine reservist's journey from campus to combat in Vietnam:
      The gunny's voice reverberated between the barracks as we marched, “Ya left right . . . left right . . . left right left. [] Then the gunny unexpectedly stopped our forward movement. “Company, halt!”
    • 2007, W. E. B. Griffin, The Hunters:
      “As a rule of thumb, Marine corporals, when a gunny asks a question, answer it,”
    • 2010, Donovan Campbell, Joker One: A Marine Platoon's Story of Courage, Leadership, and ..., page 37:
      Alongside even' officer chain of command is an enlisted one, and the company gunnery sergeant ("gunny" for short) is the enlisted counterpart [] Without a gunny, the day-to-day operations of the infantry would likely grind to a halt.

Anagrams

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