boner

/ˈboʊnər/

/ˈbʌʊnə/

Other forms: boners

A boner is an erection. It's also a word for mistake. Either way, you probably want to hide your boner.

This is a very slangy word that is not fit for many situations. No one really wants to hear "I have a boner!" or "I made a boner!" — especially because the "erection" meaning has kind of overshadowed the "mistake" meaning. If you mess up, you're better off with a word like goof, flub, blunder, or snafu. Those words are all kind of fun, and they won't get you in any more trouble than you're already in for making a boner.

Definitions of boner

1. noun

   an embarrassing mistake
   synonyms: bloomer, blooper, blunder, boo-boo, botch, bungle, flub, foul-up, pratfall

   types:

   bobble

   the momentary juggling of a batted or thrown baseball

   spectacle

   a blunder that makes you look ridiculous; used in the phrase `make a spectacle of' yourself

   bull

   a serious and ludicrous blunder

   fumble, muff

   (sports) dropping the ball

   fluff

   a blunder (especially an actor's forgetting the lines)

   faux pas, gaffe, gaucherie, slip, solecism

   a socially awkward or tactless act

   howler

   a glaring blunder

   clanger

   a conspicuous mistake whose effects seem to reverberate

   misstep, stumble, trip, trip-up

   an unintentional but embarrassing blunder

   type of:

   error, fault, mistake

   a wrong action attributable to bad judgment or ignorance or inattention