[1] : WordNet (r) 2.0

thunk
     n : a dull hollow sound; "the basketball made a thunk as it hit
         the rim"

[2] : Jargon File (4.3.1, 29 Jun 2001)

thunk /thuhnk/ n. 1. obs."a piece of coding which provides an
   address", according to p. z. ingerman, who invented thunks in 1961 as a
   way of binding actual parameters to their formal definitions in algol-60
   procedure calls. if a procedure is called with an expression in the
   place of a formal parameter, the compiler generates a thunk which
   computes the expression and leaves the address of the result in some
   standard location. 2. later generalized into: an expression, frozen
   together with its environment, for later evaluation if and when needed
   similar to what in techspeak is called a `closure'. the process of
   unfreezing these thunks is called `forcing'. 3. a stubroutine, in an
   overlay programming environment, that loads and jumps to the correct
   overlay. compare trampoline. 4. people and activities scheduled in a
   thunklike manner. "it occurred to me the other day that i am rather
   accurately modeled by a thunk -- i frequently need to be forced to
   completion." - paraphrased from a plan file.

   historical note: there are a couple of onomatopoeic myths circulating
   about the origin of this term. the most common is that it is the sound
   made by data hitting the stack; another holds that the sound is that of
   the data hitting an accumulator. yet another suggests that it is the
   sound of the expression being unfrozen at argument-evaluation time. in
   fact, according to the inventors, it was coined after they realized in
   the wee hours after hours of discussion that the type of an argument in
   algol-60 could be figured out in advance with a little compile-time
   thought, simplifying the evaluation machinery. in other words, it had
   `already been thought of'; thus it was christened a `thunk', which is
   "the past tense of `think' at two in the morning".


see also:
stubroutine trampoline plan file 

[3] : The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (27 SEP 03)

thunk
     
         /thuhnk/ 1. "a piece of coding which provides an
        address", according to p. z. ingerman, who invented thunks in
        1961 as a way of binding actual parameters to their formal
        definitions in algol 60 procedure calls.  if a procedure
        is called with an expression in the place of a formal
        parameter, the compiler generates a thunk which computes the
        expression and leaves the address of the result in some
        standard location.
     
        2. the term was later generalised to mean an expression,
        frozen together with its environment variable values, for
        later evaluation if and when needed similar to a
        "closure".  the process of unfreezing these thunks is
        called "forcing".
     
        3. a stubroutine, in an overlay programming environment,
        that loads and jumps to the correct overlay.
     
        compare trampoline.
     
        there are a couple of onomatopoeic myths circulating about the
        origin of this term.  the most common is that it is the sound
        made by data hitting the stack; another holds that the sound
        is that of the data hitting an accumulator.  yet another
        suggests that it is the sound of the expression being unfrozen
        at argument-evaluation time.  in fact, according to the
        inventors, it was coined after they realised in the wee hours
        after hours of discussion that the type of an argument in
        algol 60 could be figured out in advance with a little
        compile-time thought, simplifying the evaluation machinery.
        in other words, it had "already been thought of"; thus it was
        christened a "thunk", which is "the past tense of "think" at
        two in the morning".
     
        4. microsoft windows programming universal thunk,
        generic thunk, flat thunk.
     
        jargon file
     
        1997-10-11
     
     
see also:
actual parameters algol 60 procedure formal parameter environment closure 
stubroutine overlay trampoline stack accumulator 
compile-time microsoft windows universal thunk generic thunk flat thunk 
jargon file 

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