Definition of "plonk"

We sat alfresco on the edge of a “square,” in reality a pond of cobbly mud with a plinth plonked in its navel […]

2004, David Mitchell, Cloud Atlas, London: Hodder and Stoughton

Changing trains at Hereford, I catch the West Midlands Class 170 that is waiting for me at Platform 1. Plonking myself in a table bay, I settle in to enjoy the trip on what is another quiet train - well, until Ledbury, where a couple of dozen people are waiting.

2020 December 2, Paul Bigland, “My weirdest and wackiest Rover yet”, in Rail, page 67

The third category of wines is highly unattractive as these may only be sold as generic wines (white, red or rosé), without reference to any geographical location. Only surplus plonk and cooking wine would aspire to fall in this segment, which can be blended with any other wine - to any extent.

1998, Pierre Spahni, Swiss Wine Market Report, page 95

Diesel took a large swallow out of the glass of red wine. He spluttered, choked, and spilled wine down one leg of his fawn colored pants. “My God,” he gasped, when he could speak. “What is that crap?”“Why cheap red wine,” Ford displayed the label. “You know. Plonk.”

2003, Joan del Monte, Plonk Goes the Weasel, page 201

Given the results reported in this chapter, one obvious solution to the ‘plonk paradox’ (why cheap wine tastes good on holiday but terrible at home) would be to try and recapture some of these sensory impressions in one′s own living room, in order to enhance the flavour/pleasantness of the wine-drinking experience (and turn that horrible tasting wine into something that tastes really rather nice), and to elucidate the respective contributions of contextual effects on hedonic ratings.

2011, Charles Spence, Maya U. Shankar, Heston Blumenthal, Chapter 11: ‘Sound Bites’: Auditory Contributions to the Perceeption and Consumption of Food and Drink, Francesca Bacci, David Melcher (editors), Art and the Senses, page 229