Wiktionary

spunk

English

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Etymology

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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 *funca (“spark”), from Proto-West Germanic *funkō, from Proto-Germanic *funkô (“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

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Noun

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spunk (usually uncountable, plural spunks)

  1. (countable, obsolete) A spark.
  2. (uncountable) Touchwood; tinder.
  3. (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, page 396:
      “Spunks — spunks — spunks — who will buy my spunks?” — cried an errant voice with a beseeching earnestness […] .
  4. (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.
  5. (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, UK: Routledge, page 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.
  7. (uncountable, chiefly UK, vulgar, slang) Semen.
    • 1912, D.H. Lawrence, letter to Edward Garnett, 3 July 1912:
      Curse the blasted, jelly-boned swines[...] the sniveling, dribbling, dithering palsied pulse-less lot that make up England today. They've got white of egg in their veins, and their spunk is that watery it's a marvel they can breed.
    • 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”, in Violet Blue, editor, Lust: Erotic Fantasies for Women, ReadHowYouWant, published 2010, page 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.

Derived terms

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Descendants

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  • → Irish: sponc

Translations

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Verb

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spunk (third-person singular simple present spunks, present participle spunking, simple past and past participle spunked)

  1. (intransitive, obsolete) To catch fire; flame up.
    Synonyms: go up in flames; see also Thesaurus:combust
  2. (intransitive, slang, vulgar) To ejaculate.
    Synonyms: cum; see also Thesaurus:ejaculate
    He spunked into the condom.
  3. (transitive, slang, vulgar) To waste (money etc.).
    Synonyms: fritter, splurge, squander

Derived terms

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Translations

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Anagrams

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