Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. a donkey.

1886		S. Hale letter 17 Mar. in Atkinson Letters of Susan Hale (1919) 163: We loved the donkey business so that we arranged for another trip the next day. [...] We were all very happy on our ‘donks’.
1899		H.E. Hamblen Yarn of Bucko Mate 123: ‘Do you want one of these donks or not?’ he asked shortly.
1913		N.Z. Truth 12 July 8/1: Sterne sentimentalized over a dead donk.
1917		E.G. Dodd diary 14 Dec. 🌐 ‘Come on you chaps, here’s the donk!’ We hooked the mule on and got to Cambrin.
1918		Kia Ora Coo-ee 15 Aug. 6/3: These donks, of course, are handled by Gyppos, six or so per man, and appear to be a much more likeable set than the pestiferous, bubbling camels.
1922		(con. late 19C) V. Hemphill Down the Mother Lode 84: Hey, look at the donk landin kicks on ’is ribs.
1924		(con. WWI) A.G. Pretty Gloss. of Sl. [...] in the A.I.F. 1921–1924 (rev. t/s) n.p.: donk. Mule. The average Australian soldier would rarely refer to anything by its proper name if he could find another as expressive. donk’s din[g]bat. A mule groom or Driver.
1932		(con. WWI) L. Mann Flesh in Armour 69: Along the road, came a line of donks.
1934		A. Russell Tramp-Royal 116: I’m here to keep the troughs filled for the ‘donks’.
1949		I.L. Idriess One Wet Season 41: He called to the donks—the donks he’d grown to like so much, the donks who knew him so well.
1966		P. Boyle At Night All Cats Are Grey 96: It was the ould fellow sold the donk.
1977		(con. 1941) R. Beilby Gunner 163: The speciality of the house is roast donk today.
2020		L. Inglis on Twitter 16 Mar. 🌐 Horses and donks rarely make business in a house, amazingly.

2. (Aus.) a fool.

1919		Tweed Dly (Murwillumbah, NSW) 17 May 7/4: And them they grins like Cheshire cats. / The ‘donks,’ they want some hay.
1993		Aus. Word Map 🌐 donk. ‘He’s a real donk, that bloke’.

3. (Aus.) a car, plane or boat engine, a motorcycle; the engine of such a vehicle.

1950		Forbes Advocate (NSW) 3 Feb. 7/4: A chap insisted that. Immediately the motor stops, the plane must crash. That's all hooey. From 3000 feet, a Tiger Moth, with a ‘donk’ dead, can glide for about 10 minutes.
1960		Meanjin Quarterly Mar. (Melbourne) 10: [a plane] I was having trouble with a donk [...] she put her nose down and dropped her starboard wing.
1977		W. Moore Just to Myself 83: He took the head off and decided the donk had to come out [AND].
1981		P. Barton Bastards I Have Known 61: He lifted the engine cover and peered around the donk.
2021		P. Papathanasiou Stoning 25: ‘Get an Aussie car [...] a real donk’.

4. (Aus.) a lift on the crossbar of a bicycle.

1941		Baker Popular Dict. Aus. Sl.
1993		Aus. Word Map 🌐 donk. to give a lift on your bicycle (similar to dink): Hop on my bike and I’ll give you a donk.

5. (N.Z.) a racehorse; thus on the donks, on the horses.

1959

G. Slatter Gun in My Hand 71: She was always doing her money cold on the donks.

6. (Aus.) a (large) penis.

1974		Searchlight (Sydney) #84 8: She also kept looking and looking at the horse’s giant donk.
1975		X. Herbert Poor Fellow My Country 584: ‘You know what they call you?’ ‘Yeah, yeah...the Donk with the Biggest Walloper in the Team’.

7. (US campus) excrement.

1999

Eble Campus Sl. Nov. 3: donk – fecal matter: ‘That smells like donk!’.

8. (US campus) large, protruding buttocks.

2003

Eble Campus Sl. Nov.