skunk
See also: Skunk
English
edit
Pronunciation
edit- IPA(key): /skʌŋk/
Audio (General Australian): (file) - Rhymes: -ʌŋk
Etymology 1
editFrom an unattested Southern New England Algonquian word, cognate with Abenaki segôgw, segonku (“he who squirts (musk) / urinates”), from Proto-Algonquian *šeka·kwa, from *šek- (“to urinate”). Doublet of Chicago.
Noun
editskunk (plural skunks)
- Any of various small mammals, of the family Mephitidae, native to North and Central America, having a glossy black with a white coat and two musk glands at the base of the tail for emitting a noxious smell as a defensive measure.
- 1634, William Wood, “Of the Beasts that Live on the Land”, in New Englands Prospect. A True, Lively, and Experimentall Description of that Part of America, Commonly Called New England; […], London: […] Tho[mas] Cotes, for Iohn Bellamie, […], →OCLC, 1st part, pages 22–23:
- The beaſts of offence be Squunckes, Ferrets, Foxes, vvhoſe impudence ſometimes drives them to the good vvives Hen rooſt, to fill their Paunch: ſome of theſe be blacke; their furre is of much eſteeme.
- (slang, derogatory, dated) A despicable person.
- (slang, derogatory, dated) Anything very bad; a stinker.
- 1987, English Journal, volume 76, numbers 5-8, page 52:
- On the other hand, many critics contend that in terms of literary quality, many of the multiple-storyline books are true skunks.
- (slang) A walkover victory in sports or board games, as when the opposing side is unable to score.
- Coordinate term: shutout
- (cribbage) A win by thirty or more points. (A double skunk is sixty or more, a triple skunk ninety or more.)
Derived terms
edit- drunk as a skunk
- eastern spotted skunk
- hog-nosed skunk
- hooded skunk
- hydrophobia skunk
- knock a skunk off a gut wagon
- skunk ape
- skunk at a garden party
- skunk at the garden party
- skunk blackbird
- skunk cabbage
- skunk dolphin
- skunked term
- skunkless
- skunklike
- skunk pig
- skunk pox
- skunk tail
- skunk tree
- skunk up
- skunk works
- skunkworks
- skunky
- spotted skunk
- stink a skunk off a gut wagon
- western spotted skunk
Descendants
edit- → Czech: skunk
- → Danish: skunk
- → German: Skunk
- → Finnish: skunkki
- → French: skunks
- → Icelandic: skunkur
- → Japanese: スカンク (sukanku)
- → Kashubian: skunk (Canada, United States)
- → Norwegian: skunk
- → Polish: skunks
- → Russian: скунс (skuns)
- → Slovak: skunk
- → Swedish: skunk
Translations
editanimal
|
despicable person
skunkweed — see marijuana
walkover victory
|
Verb
editskunk (third-person singular simple present skunks, present participle skunking, simple past and past participle skunked)
- (transitive, slang) To defeat so badly as to prevent any opposing points.
- I skunked him at cards.
- We fished all day but the lake skunked us.
- (cribbage) To win by thirty or more points.
- (intransitive, of beer) To go bad, to spoil.
See also
editEtymology 2
editBlend of skinhead + punk, influenced by the animal (Etymology 1).
Noun
editskunk (plural skunks)
- A member of a hybrid skinhead and punk subculture.
- 2006, Pam Nilan, Carles Feixa, Global Youth?: Hybrid Identities, Plural Worlds, page 192:
- In the early 1980s, certain ex-punks joined them, becoming 'skunks' – a hybrid subculture of skinheads and punks.
- 2011, Gerard DeGroot (quoting Brown), Seventies Unplugged
- […] mods, skins, suedes, smoothies, punks, skunks, rude boys, soul boys and headbangers […]
Etymology 3
editFrom skunkweed (“certain highly aromatic marijuana”).
Noun
editskunk (countable and uncountable, plural skunks)
- (slang) Clipping of skunkweed (marijuana).
- Any of the strains of hybrids of Cannabis sativa and Cannabis indica that may have THC levels exceeding those of typical hashish.
Czech
editNoun
editskunk m anim
- skunk (animal)
Declension
editFurther reading
editDutch
editEtymology
editPronunciation
editNoun
editskunk m (uncountable)
Kashubian
editEtymology
editPronunciation
editNoun
editskunk m animal (female equivalent szkùnka)
- (Canada, United States) skunk
Further reading
edit- Stanislow Frymark (2020) “skunk”, in Kashubian Language in Canada, the USA and New Zealand; Lexical Interferences in Kashubian Language in Canada, the USA and New Zealand (in English and Kashubian), Zómk Zôbòrsczi, →ISBN
Swedish
editEtymology
editPronunciation
editNoun
editskunk c
Declension
editDeclension of skunk
References
editCategories:
- English 1-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio pronunciation
- Rhymes:English/ʌŋk
- Rhymes:English/ʌŋk/1 syllable
- English terms derived from Proto-Algonquian
- English doublets
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- English terms with quotations
- English slang
- English derogatory terms
- English dated terms
- en:Cribbage
- English verbs
- English transitive verbs
- English terms with usage examples
- English intransitive verbs
- en:Beer
- English blends
- English uncountable nouns
- English clippings
- en:Mephitids
- en:People
- Czech lemmas
- Czech nouns
- Czech masculine nouns
- Czech animate nouns
- Czech masculine animate nouns
- Czech velar-stem masculine animate nouns
- Dutch terms borrowed from English
- Dutch terms derived from English
- Dutch terms with IPA pronunciation
- Dutch terms with audio pronunciation
- Dutch lemmas
- Dutch nouns
- Dutch uncountable nouns
- Dutch masculine nouns
- Kashubian terms borrowed from English
- Kashubian terms derived from English
- Kashubian terms with IPA pronunciation
- Rhymes:Kashubian/ɔ̃k
- Rhymes:Kashubian/ɔ̃k/1 syllable
- Kashubian lemmas
- Kashubian nouns
- Kashubian masculine nouns
- Kashubian animal nouns
- Canada Kashubian
- United States Kashubian
- Swedish terms borrowed from English
- Swedish terms derived from English
- Swedish terms with IPA pronunciation
- Swedish lemmas
- Swedish nouns
- Swedish common-gender nouns
- sv:Mephitids