gunny

• IPA^(key): /ˈɡʌni/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ʌni

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

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.

A shortening of gunnery sergeant

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.

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