Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun Informal Spirit; pluck.
- noun Punk, touchwood, or other tinder.
- noun Vulgar Slang Ejaculated semen.
from The Century Dictionary.
- To kindle; show a flame or spark: used in phrases.
- noun Touchwood; tinder; a kind of tinder made from a species of fungus; amadou. Also called
punk . - noun A very small fire; a fiery spark or small flame; also, a lucifer match.
- noun Mettle; spirit; pluck; obstinate resistance to yielding.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun Wood that readily takes fire; touchwood; also, a kind of tinder made from a species of fungus; punk; amadou.
- noun colloq. An inflammable temper; spirit; mettle; pluck.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun countable, obsolete A
spark . - noun uncountable
Touchwood ;tinder . - noun countable, obsolete A piece of tinder, sometimes impregnated with
sulphur ; amatch . - noun uncountable
Courage ;spirit ;mettle ;determination . - noun countable, UK, Australia, New Zealand, slang An
attractive person (normallymale ). - noun uncountable, UK, vulgar, slang
Male ejaculate ;semen . - verb UK, slang To
ejaculate .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun the courage to carry on
- noun material for starting a fire
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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Actually, I think the spunk is a symptom of the politics.
E-mail me again when he shows some common sense (Jack Bog's Blog) 2009
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How can you look at her like that and not want to cover her in spunk?
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The only time Palin can be accused of having spunk is when it comes to looking after her own interest in making money.
Think Progress » Palin: With his ‘chalkboard technique,’ Glenn Beck is ‘changing our country.’ 2010
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The lady gives off a quality that used to be called "spunk" - a combination of confidence, toughness, and charm that wins over voters, even when a track record commensurate with the office she seeks is lacking.
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Tenniel would later post: His spunk is a fine example for all White folk.
Rashad Robinson: White Supremacists Show Support for MSNBC's Pat Buchanan Rashad Robinson 2011
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True Story: I know a black guy who calls his spunk "His Dark Materials".
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Sandy strak a spunk an 'lichtit his lantern, an', efter a fell lot o 'fykin', he got her into order.
My Man Sandy J. B. Salmond
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This gives her songs a greater sense of sass and spunk, which is probably how she got pigeonholed into Country so quickly (her earliest works actually sound pretty Gospel).
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Woebetide any squaddie who turned up wearing one of them skull masks - they'd probably be called spunk-lips or bukkake face or spunk-mush for the rest of their career.
Army Rumour Service 2010
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Over the past few years it has come to be widely used in informal contexts to mean ` spirits, chutzpah, guts, courage '; what Brits used to call spunk a generation ago.
yarb commented on the word spunk
In Australia in the 80's, synonymous with hunk. A sexually desirable man. E.g. "hey Brenda, cop an eyeful of Shane in his speedos, ain't he a spunk?"
November 13, 2007
johnmperry commented on the word spunk
In UK it's another vernacular name for semen.
July 14, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word spunk
also see moxie
July 22, 2008
yarb commented on the word spunk
"My friend," she began, with a new note of impressiveness in her voice, "if you'll pardon my saying it, you haven't got the spunk of a mouse."
- Harold Frederic, The Damnation of Theron Ware, ch. 14
August 2, 2008