gronk

In real, traceable use. Part of the curated seed collection; community review is coming.

Sense 1

Meaning · English

Of a floppy disk drive: to produce mechanical sounds of operation.

Register: slang

Where it’s used: Used American English

Examples

They say a good detective always starts at the beginning, so I installed the program on my VGA PC's hard drive. As the computer gronked away, copying six 5¼-inch floppies, I wondered why, if bad detectives start at the end, […]

Usage example from English Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-30)

Sources & notes

Adapted from English Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-30 via kaikki.org).

Sense 2

Meaning · English

To fail; to crash or go wrong.

Register: slang

Sources & notes

Adapted from English Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-30 via kaikki.org).

Common questions

What does “gronk” mean?

Of a floppy disk drive: to produce mechanical sounds of operation.

Is “gronk” formal or informal?

gronk is generally slang.