skunk
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /skʌŋk/
rhymes: -ʌŋk
Forms: form: skunks
form: scunck
Etymology: From 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.
Senses: examples: text: 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.
ref: 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:
glosses: Any of various small mammals, of most genera 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.
glosses: A despicable person.
examples: text: On the other hand, many critics contend that in terms of literary quality, many of the multiple-storyline books are true skunks.
ref: 1987, English Journal, volume 76, numbers 5-8, page 52:
glosses: Anything very bad; a stinker.
coordinate_terms: shutout
glosses: A walkover victory in sports or board games, as when the opposing side is unable to score.
qualifier: cribbage
glosses: A win by thirty or more points. (A double skunk is sixty or more, a triple skunk ninety or more.)
Derived terms: taxonomic: Conepatus spp.
word: badger skunk
taxonomic: Mephitis spp.
word: big skunk
word: drunk as a skunk
word: drunker than a skunk
taxonomic: Conepatus spp.
word: hog-nosed skunk
alt: Mephites macroura
word: hooded skunk
taxonomic: Spilogale angustifrons
word: hydrophobia skunk
word: knock a skunk off a gut wagon
taxonomic: Conepatus leuconotus
word: rooter skunk
word: skunk ape
word: skunk at a garden party
word: skunk at the garden party
taxonomic: Melanitta perspicillata
word: skunkball
word: skunk bear (Gulo gulo
taxonomic: Melanitta perspicillata
word: skunkbill
word: skunkbird
taxonomic: Dolichonyx oryzivorus
word: skunk blackbird
taxonomic: Rhus trilobata
word: skunkbush
alt: Symplocarpus foetidus et al.
word: skunk cabbage)
taxonomic: Ribes glandulosum
word: skunk currant
taxonomic: Cephalorhynchus commersonii
word: skunk dolphin
word: skunked term
taxonomic: Eragrostis spp.
word: skunk grass
taxonomic: Melanitta perspicillata
word: skunkhead
word: skunkless
word: skunklike
taxonomic: Tayassuidae spp.
word: skunk pig
taxonomic: Lagenorhynchus spp.
word: skunk porpoise
taxonomic: Skunkpox virus
word: skunk pox
taxonomic: Picea glauca
word: skunk spruce
alt: Sitanion hystrix
word: skunk tail
taxonomic: Sterculia foetida
word: skunk tree
alt: Sternotherus odoratus et al.
word: skunk turtle
word: skunk up
word: skunkweed
taxonomic: Polemonium viscosum
word: skunk-weed
word: skunk works
word: skunkworks
word: skunky
taxonomic: Spilogale spp.
word: spotted skunk
word: stink a skunk off a gut wagon
taxonomic: Mephitis mephitis
word: striped skunk