SKUNK

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does skunk mean? 

• SKUNK (noun)
  The noun SKUNK has 4 senses:

1. a person who is deemed to be despicable or contemptible

2. a defeat in a game where one side fails to score

3. street names for marijuana

4. American musteline mammal typically ejecting an intensely malodorous fluid when startled; in some classifications put in a separate subfamily Mephitinae

  Familiarity information: SKUNK used as a noun is uncommon.

• SKUNK (verb)
  The verb SKUNK has 1 sense:

1. defeat by a lurch

  Familiarity information: SKUNK used as a verb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• SKUNK (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A person who is deemed to be despicable or contemptible

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

bum; crumb; dirty dog; git; lowlife; puke; rat; rotter; scum bag; skunk; so-and-so; stinker; stinkpot

Context example:

the British call a contemptible person a 'git'

Hypernyms ("skunk" is a kind of...):

disagreeable person; unpleasant person (a person who is not pleasant or agreeable)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A defeat in a game where one side fails to score

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural events

Synonyms:

shutout; skunk

Hypernyms ("skunk" is a kind of...):

defeat; licking (an unsuccessful ending to a struggle or contest)

Derivation:

skunk (defeat by a lurch)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Street names for marijuana

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

dope; gage; grass; green goddess; locoweed; Mary Jane; pot; sens; sess; skunk; smoke; weed

Hypernyms ("skunk" is a kind of...):

cannabis; ganja; marihuana; marijuana (the most commonly used illicit drug; considered a soft drug, it consists of the dried leaves of the hemp plant; smoked or chewed for euphoric effect)

Sense 4

Meaning:

American musteline mammal typically ejecting an intensely malodorous fluid when startled; in some classifications put in a separate subfamily Mephitinae

Classified under:

Nouns denoting animals

Synonyms:

polecat; skunk; wood pussy

Hypernyms ("skunk" is a kind of...):

mustelid; musteline; musteline mammal (fissiped fur-bearing carnivorous mammals)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "skunk"):

Mephitis mephitis; striped skunk (most common and widespread North American skunk)

hooded skunk; Mephitis macroura (of Mexico and southernmost parts of southwestern United States)

badger skunk; Conepatus leuconotus; hog-nosed skunk; hognosed skunk; rooter skunk (large naked-muzzled skunk with white back and tail; of southwestern North America and Mexico)

little spotted skunk; Spilogale putorius; spotted skunk (small skunk with a marbled black and white coat; of United States and Mexico)

• SKUNK (verb)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Defeat by a lurch

Classified under:

Verbs of fighting, athletic activities

Synonyms:

lurch; skunk

Hypernyms (to "skunk" is one way to...):

defeat; get the better of; overcome (win a victory over)

Domain category:

card game; cards (a game played with playing cards)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s somebody

Derivation:

skunk (a defeat in a game where one side fails to score)

 Context examples 

How often she went I don’t know, but I followed her one day, and as I broke in at the door Fairbairn got away over the back garden wall, like the cowardly skunk that he was.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)