DCHP-3

dunch

DCHP-2 (Oct 2016)
1n. — Newfoundland, Food

doughy, soggy bread.

Type: 2. Preservation — Dunch is a preservation from West Country English (EDD, s.v. "dunch"), a dialect spoken by the people of southwest England. Because of the significant number of people from these areas who permanently settled in Newfoundland, many regionalisms, such as dunch, have remained in use on the island (Clarke 2010b: 105-106). The term appears to be used most frequently when describing a type or state of bread, and can be used in combinations like "dunch-bread" or "dunch-dumpling" (see the 1896 quotation), though it may also be used to describe people (see meaning 2).
See also DNE, s.v. "dunch" (2), DPEIE, s.v. "dunch".

Quotations

1896
Dunch cake or bread, unleavened bread, composed of flour mixed with water and baked at once. So Wright and Halliwell give dunch-dumpling as in Westmoreland denoting "a plain pudding made of flour and water."
1924
Dunch. Heavy; soggy (as of bread).
1937
DUNCH. Dumplings made of flour and water only.
1971
314. dunch -- A heavy bread made without yeast. ("Most generally sour". -- F. M.)
1997
On the subject of dunking, T.K. Pratt's Dictionary of Prince Edward Island English includes the noun "dunch," rarely used, which is "heavy, soggy or crusty bread . . . a piece of bread put into milk, dunking it. It's made from homemade flour."
2adj.

heavy, damp, soggy.

Type: 2. Preservation — See meaning 1.

Quotations

1951
These old villagers do look the picture of health but then again you wonder if it's only the crisp brown crust on a loaf that dunch inside [sic!] -- whether they really feel as fit as they look.
2006
In the city itself, every other block seems to have a tooth missing, a dark hole in the soil where someone is building a house in between two watchful neighbours. The soil is everywhere in piles, rich and dark and dunch, piled wetly in heaps that don't ever seem to dry.
2012
Five of your favourite words? Well, "penguin," just because of the great way it feels when you say it. Some fabulous Newfoundland words, like "tangly" which means complicated, and "dunch" which means heavy and thick, like a undercooked brownie.
3adj.

stiff or cramped from sitting in one position.

Type: 2. Preservation — As with meaning 1, dunch in this sense is preserved from West Country English (EDD, s.v. "dunch" 2(i)). However, internet searches yield far fewer written sources for this meaning, with the majority appearing in more recent decades.
See also DNE, s.v. "dunch" (1).

Quotations

1985
GUY 128 When he gets the bit between his china clippers he's good for an hour on any subject from cutting cats to the Boer War. I was good and dunch by the time he came up for air.
2001
Dunch: Stiff, cramped or numbed from sitting in one position. "My leg is dunch from sitting on it."
2007
In that posture I would cling, like a sailor to the ratlines of a ship, until either my feet went dunch or my eyelids fluttered.
2009
If you've ever felt like a gommel for letting your butt go dunch while sitting yaffling your spanny-tickles out of a puncheon tub, then you might find Galore slightly less charming than I did. For me, though, the language was what did the trick. It's just close enough to English to make you think you should understand it, just far enough away to ensure you never quite do.

References

  • Clarke (2010b)
  • EDD
  • DNE
  • DPEIE