spunk
English
Etymology
1530, blend of spark + funk (obsolete, “spark”). Also, merging with spunck, 1582, ultimately from Middle Irish sponc, from Latin spongia (“sponge”).
Funk (“spark, touchwood”) is from Middle English funke, fonke (“spark”), from Old English *funce (“spark”), *fanca, from Proto-Germanic *funkô, *fankô (“spark”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)peng- (“to shine”), and is akin to Middle Low German funke, fanke (“spark”), Middle Dutch vonke (“spark”), Old High German funcho, funko (“spark”), German Funke (“spark”).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /spʌŋk/
Audio (US) (file) Audio (AU) (file) - Rhymes: -ʌŋk
Noun
spunk (usually uncountable, plural spunks)
- (countable, obsolete) A spark.
- 1886 May 1 – July 31, Robert Louis Stevenson, “I Talk with Alan in the Wood of Lettermore”, in Kidnapped, being Memoirs of the Adventures of David Balfour in the Year 1751: […], London; Paris: Cassell & Company, Limited., published 1886, OCLC 1056292939, pages 176–177:
- "[...] That's none such an entirely bad little man, yon little man with the red head," said Alan. "He has some spunks of decency."
- 1922 February, James Joyce, “[Episode 1]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company, […], OCLC 560090630:
- He […] took from his waistcoatpocket a nickel tinderbox, sprang it open too, and, having lit his cigarette, held the flaming spunk towards Stephen in the shell of his hands.
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- (uncountable) Touchwood; tinder.
- 1650, Thomas Browne, chapter II, in Pseudodoxia Epidemica: […], 2nd edition, London: […] A[braham] Miller, for Edw[ard] Dod and Nath[aniel] Ekins, […], OCLC 152706203, 1st book, page 5:
- Spunk, or Touch-wood prepared, might perhaps make it Russet: and some, as Beringuccio affirmeth, have promised to make it Red.
- 1665, R[obert] Hooke, chapter XXII, in Micrographia: Or Some Physiological Descriptions of Minute Bodies Made by Magnifying Glasses. With Observations and Inquiries thereupon, London: Printed by Jo[hn] Martyn, and Ja[mes] Allestry, printers to the Royal Society, […], OCLC 937019123:
- A piece of Touch-wood (which is a kind of Jews-ear, or Mushrom, growing here in England also, on several sorts of Trees, such as Elders, Maples, Willows, &c. and is commonly call'd by the name of Spunk […]).
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- (countable, chiefly Scotland, obsolete) A piece of tinder, sometimes impregnated with sulphur; a match.
- 1829, Society for Relief of the Destitute Sick (Edinburgh), Report, p. 7:
- At present, her only means of procuring subsistence for herself and children, is by making spunks or matches, which, either she or her eldest child, a girl about six years of age, sells from door to door.
- 1843, John Wilson, John Gibson Lockhart, William Maginn, James Hogg, The Noctes Ambrosianæ of “Blackwood”, Volume IV, p. 396:
- “Spunks — spunks — spunks — who will buy my spunks?” — cried an errant voice with a beseeching earnestness […] .
- 1829, Society for Relief of the Destitute Sick (Edinburgh), Report, p. 7:
- (uncountable) Courage; spirit; mettle; determination.
- 1920 August, Edward Leonard, "Old Zeke′s Mule", Boys′ Life, p. 55:
- “I reckon I′m as good as a mule,” he declared. “Maria knows what that desert is as well as we do, but she′s got more spunk than either of us. I'm not going to let any mule show more spunk than me.”
- 2007 September 28, Graham Linehan, The IT Crowd, Season 2, Episode 6:
- Douglas: You've got spunk. And balls. And I like that in a woman.
- For more quotations using this term, see Citations:spunk.
- 1920 August, Edward Leonard, "Old Zeke′s Mule", Boys′ Life, p. 55:
- (countable, UK, Australia, New Zealand, slang) An attractive person (normally male).
- Synonyms: Adonis, beefcake, hunk
- 2005, Sue Austin, Women′s Aggressive Fantasies: A Post-Jungian Exploration of Self-Hatred, Love and Agency, Routledge, UK, p. 166:
- We are welcomed by 20 year old spunks, as we make a last valiant attempt with our bodies - gasp, gasp - and try to get back in shape.
- (uncountable, chiefly UK, vulgar, slang) Semen.
- 1980, “In the Flat Field”, in In the Flat Field, performed by Bauhaus:
- Between spunk-stained sheet and odorous whim / Camera eye-flick-shudder within
- 2007, Debra Hyde, Kidnapped, Violet Blue (editor), Lust: Erotic Fantasies for Women, 2010, ReadHowYouWant, p. 188:
- It was runny stuff and, as she felt Brain loosen his hold on the drawstrings, Cackle's spunk dripped onto the shelf of her chin.
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Derived terms
- spunky
Descendants
- → Irish: sponc
Translations
courage; spirit; mettle; determination
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slang: attractive male
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slang: semen
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Verb
spunk (third-person singular simple present spunks, present participle spunking, simple past and past participle spunked)
- (intransitive, obsolete) To catch fire; flame up.
- (intransitive, slang, vulgar) To ejaculate.
- He spunked into the condom.
- (transitive, slang, vulgar) To waste (money etc.).
Anagrams
- punks