Skunk
noun, verb, slang ·Common ·Middle school level
Definitions
- 1 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. US
"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."
- 2 A member of a hybrid skinhead and punk subculture. US
"In the early 1980s, certain ex-punks joined them, becoming 'skunks' – a hybrid subculture of skinheads and punks."
- 3 Clipping of skunkweed, type of marijuana. US, abbreviation, alt-of, clipping, countable, slang, uncountable
- 4 American musteline mammal typically ejecting an intensely malodorous fluid when startled; in some classifications put in a separate subfamily Mephitinae wordnet
- 5 A despicable person. US, dated, derogatory, slang
"In fact, the term he applied to this species of human being was "skunk," and he used it freely."
Show 7 more definitions
- 6 Any of the strains of hybrids of Cannabis sativa and Cannabis indica that may have THC levels exceeding those of typical hashish. US, countable, uncountable
- 7 street names for marijuana wordnet
- 8 Anything very bad; a stinker. US, dated, derogatory, slang
"On the other hand, many critics contend that in terms of literary quality, many of the multiple-storyline books are true skunks."
- 9 a defeat in a game where one side fails to score wordnet
- 10 A walkover victory in sports or board games, as when the opposing side is unable to score. US, slang
- 11 a person who is deemed to be despicable or contemptible wordnet
- 12 A win by thirty or more points. (A double skunk is sixty or more, a triple skunk ninety or more.) US
- 1 To defeat so badly as to prevent any opposing points. US, slang, transitive
"I skunked him at cards."
- 2 defeat by a lurch wordnet
- 3 To win by thirty or more points. US
- 4 To go bad, to spoil. US, intransitive
Example
More examples"I almost stepped on a skunk last night."
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.
Blend of skinhead + punk, influenced by the animal (Etymology 1).
From skunkweed (“certain highly aromatic marijuana”).
Related phrases
More for "skunk"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.