skunk

[skuhngk]

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noun, plural skunks, (especially collectively) skunk.

a small North American mammal, Mephitis mephitis, of the weasel family, having a black coat with a white, V-shaped stripe on the back, and ejecting a fetid odor when alarmed or attacked.

any of several related or similar animals.Compare hog-nosed skunk, spotted skunk.

Informal. a thoroughly contemptible person.

U.S. Navy Slang. an unidentified ship or target.

verb (used with object)

Slang. to defeat thoroughly in a game, especially while keeping an opponent from scoring: The team skunked the favorites in the crucial game.

Origin of skunk

1625–35, Americanism; < the Massachusett reflex of Proto-Algonquian *šeka·kwa (derivative of *šek- urinate + -a·kw fox, foxlike animal

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for skunk

cheat, scoundrel, knave, stinker

Examples from the Web for skunk

Contemporary Examples of skunk

The army met the stone-throwing with a fecal-smelling concoction called "skunk" and later with tear gas.
After Victory, Palestinian Village Runs Into A Wall
Ali Gharib
April 2, 2013

Historical Examples of skunk

Of course the puppy barked; of course the skunk did not like it.
A Woman Tenderfoot
Grace Gallatin Seton-Thompson
Was the occupant a rat or a skunk, and if so, what was he going to do?
A Woman Tenderfoot
Grace Gallatin Seton-Thompson
Because I've got a whole lot of respect for the skunk family.
With Trapper Jim in the North Woods
Lawrence J. Leslie
Why, there are a whole lot of skunk farms all over the Northern States.
With Trapper Jim in the North Woods
Lawrence J. Leslie
The Pole-cat or Skunk is about the size of a kitten eight months old.
The History of Louisiana
Le Page Du Pratz

British Dictionary definitions for skunk

skunk

noun plural skunks or skunk

any of various American musteline mammals of the subfamily Mephitinae, esp Mephitis mephitis (striped skunk), typically having a black and white coat and bushy tail: they eject an unpleasant-smelling fluid from the anal gland when attacked

informal a despicable person

slang a strain of cannabis smoked for its exceptionally powerful psychoactive properties

verb

(tr) US and Canadian slang to defeat overwhelmingly in a game

Word Origin for skunk

C17: from Algonquian; compare Abnaki segākw skunk

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for skunk

1630s, squunck, from a southern New England Algonquian language (probably Abenaki) seganku, from Proto-Algonquian */šeka:kwa/, from */šek-/ "to urinate" + */-a:kw/ "fox." As an insult, attested from 1841. Skunk cabbage is attested from 1751; earlier skunkweed (1738).

"to completely defeat (in a game), to shut out from scoring," 1831, from skunk (n.). Related: Skunked; skunking.