What it means
A very British intensifier for something massive, hefty, or seriously impressive. You stick it in front of a noun or adjective when normal-sized language has packed up and gone home, like a stonking hangover, a stonking great queue, or a stonking win. It sounds a bit cheeky, a bit old-school, and proudly unsubtle.
Usage examples
"Dave rocked up to the caff with a stonking great fry-up, full builder’s. I was like, steady on mate, you feeding a family of badgers?"
"They scored a stonking goal from the halfway line, the whole pub jumped up and knocked three pints over."
"He's got a stonking new telly in the front room, takes up half the bloody wall."
"We got a stonking discount on the sofa, so naturally Mum acted like she'd robbed the place legally."
"That chippy gave me a stonking portion of chips, proper mountain of the stuff."
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Where it comes from
Probably born as an emphatic noise word, the kind of thing you blurt when something is impressively big or loud. By the late twentieth century Brits were slapping stonking in front of anything they wanted to amplify, a stonking goal, a stonking great hangover. Pure intensifier, all enthusiasm and no subtlety.
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