dunk
v.v. to push something down into a liquid, or to drop a ball into a basketball hoop. You use it when you want to describe the action of forcing something under water or scoring a basket.
v. to force or drop something into a liquid; in basketball, to score by throwing the ball downward through the hoop.
She dunked the bread in her coffee.
The player ran toward the basket and dunked the ball with one hand.
As the sun set, the hiker dunked his tired feet into the icy stream to relieve the ache from the long climb.
From Pennsylvania German dunke, from Middle High German dunken, from Old High German dunkōn (“to dip, submerge, dunk”), from Proto-West Germanic þunkōn (“to make wet”), possibly from Proto-Germanic þunkōną, from Proto-Indo-European *teng- (“to moisten, wet”). Cognate with German tunken (“to dunk”), Latin tingō (“to wet, moisten”), Ancient Greek τέγγω (téngō, “to wet, moisten”). Related to taint, tincture, tint.
The verb is transitive and takes a direct object.