Dictionaries of the Scots Language
Dictionars o the Scots Leid

Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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About this entry:
First published 1952 (SND Vol. III). Includes material from the 1976 supplement.
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

CLUNKER, n.¹ A lump or bump of any kind; “inequalities on the surface of the ground; of a road, especially, in consequence of frost. It is also applied to dirt hardened in clots, so as to render a pavement or floor unequal” (Sc. 1808 Jam., clunkers). Cf. n.Eng. dial. clunker, a clod of earth, a big lump (E.D.D.). Also fig. Ags. 1794 W. Anderson Piper of Peebles 18:
He has a clunker on his crown, Like half an erracks [sic] egg.Ags. 1894 J. B. Salmond My Man Sandy (1899) 59: 
He spread oot the muckle clunkers o' hands o' him.Ags. 1925 Forfar Dispatch (6 Aug.) 2/5:
There's waur places than a bodie's ain fireside, an' a hantle waur beds than yer ain: for aiven supposin' it binna very saft, ye ken at ony rate far the clunkers are an' the canniest wye tae lie doon amon' them.

Hence clunkerd, clunkert, adj., “covered with clunkers; applied to a road, or floor, that is overlaid with clots of indurated dirt” (n.Sc. 1825 Jam.²).