Skank

//skæŋk// adj, noun, verb, slang

Definitions

Adjective
  1. 1
    Lewd, vulgar, skanky. derogatory, slang

    ""I wear provocative clothes because they make me feel sexy," Toni says without apology. "If an artist like Madonna is wearing her booty hanging out, she's considered a genius. But if a black person does it, we're considered skank whores or sluts.""

Noun
  1. 1
    A lewd and disreputable person, often female, especially an unattractive person with an air of tawdry promiscuity. countable, derogatory, slang, uncountable

    "Whenever a slang word is heard, the youngsters note it, then write sentences which include the word. […]Hawk: to watch – as in “Man, that skank steady hawks me in school.”"

  2. 2
    A dance performed to ska, dub, or reggae music.

    "[…]the ability to double up with contagious laughter; the feeling of pure child-like glee; and the mesmerizing, trance-like skank dancing that looks like African aerobics after centuries of rhythm."

  3. 3
    The act of cheating a person.

    "That's not a good deal; it's a skank."

  4. 4
    a rhythmic dance to reggae music performed by bending forward and extending the hands while bending the knees wordnet
  5. 5
    Anything that is particularly foul, unhygienic or unpleasant. countable, uncountable

    "Virgins. I love 'em. No diseases, no loose as a goose pussy, no skank. No nothin'. Just pure pleasure."

Show 2 more definitions
  1. 6
    A style of rhythmic guitar strumming in ska, reggae, and punk.

    "A typical skank guitar rhythm: {\time3/4\tempo4=180\set Staff.midiInstrument=#"electric guitar (muted)"\repeat unfold2{r8a4}\repeat unfold2{r8g4"

  2. 7
    any substance considered disgustingly foul or unpleasant wordnet
Verb
  1. 1
    To dance the skank.

    "Four-thousand miles away, there is a reggae night spot called Club 69, where local youth wear dreadlocks... and dance ska, rocksteady, and skank to the beats of the Wailers.... Club 69 is in Tokyo, the dread youths are Japanese."

  2. 2
    To cheat, especially a friend. transitive

    "He short-changed a partner, leaving him feeling skanked."

  3. 3
    dance the skank wordnet
  4. 4
    To play guitar with a skank rhythm.

    "Joe Strummer and Mick Jones did a lot of skanking. Skanking refers to a style of playing using scratch (page 17) rhythms with a strong accent on the off-beats (1 & 2 & 3 & 4 &) rather than the on-beats."

  5. 5
    To be dishonest or unreliable, to defraud or deceive, to steal. Jamaica, intransitive, transitive

    "Only Tosh, Marley and Livingston had been signed, and Aston Barrett harboured an unarticulated resentment that later would be couched in the language of betrayal[…] In any event ‘Family Man’ believed that they had an oral agreement, and placed his faith in Marley (from whom they received their wages) that he would not skank them."

Etymology

Etymology 1

Unknown. Perhaps from skag (“unattractive woman”), but the origins of skag are unknown. Compare scold (“troublesome woman”), skeevy (“disgusting”). Attested from the 1960s.

Etymology 2

Unknown. Perhaps from skag (“unattractive woman”), but the origins of skag are unknown. Compare scold (“troublesome woman”), skeevy (“disgusting”). Attested from the 1960s.

Etymology 3

Originally Jamaican, attested from the twentieth century, but earliest source is uncertain. The verb sense be dishonest is evidently older. Perhaps originally onomatopoeic. The dance senses may come from a resemblance to motorcyclists weaving between larger vehicles. Compare skanker.

Etymology 4

Originally Jamaican, attested from the twentieth century, but earliest source is uncertain. The verb sense be dishonest is evidently older. Perhaps originally onomatopoeic. The dance senses may come from a resemblance to motorcyclists weaving between larger vehicles. Compare skanker.

Etymology 5

Slang word used in Northern England. Unknown. Perhaps from etymology 2, above; attested in West Indian and UK black slang from the twentieth century.

Etymology 6

Slang word used in Northern England. Unknown. Perhaps from etymology 2, above; attested in West Indian and UK black slang from the twentieth century.

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