Adjacent Words

Spunk definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

SPUNK, n. [probably from punk.]
1. Touchwood; wood that readily takes fire. Hence,
2. Vulgarly, an inflammable temper; spirit; as a man of spunk. Ill natured observations touched his spunk. [Low.]

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: material for starting a fire [syn: kindling, tinder, touchwood, spunk, punk]
2: the courage to carry on; "he kept fighting on pure spunk"; "you haven't got the heart for baseball" [syn: heart, mettle, nerve, spunk]

Merriam Webster's

I. noun Etymology: Scottish Gaelic spong sponge, tinder, from Middle Irish spongc, from Latin spongia sponge Date: 1582 1. a. a woody tinder ; punk b. any of various fungi used to make tinder 2. mettle, pluck 3. spirit, liveliness II. intransitive verb Date: 1840 dialect to show spirit — usually used with up

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. 1 touchwood. 2 colloq. courage, mettle, spirit. 3 coarse sl. semen. Usage: Usually considered a taboo use. Etymology: 16th c.: orig. unkn.: cf. PUNK

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Spunk Spunk (sp[u^][ng]k), n. [Gael. spong, or Ir. sponc, tinder, sponge; cf. AS. sponge a sponge (L. spongia), sp[=o]n a chip. Cf. Sponge, Punk.] [Written also sponk.] 1. Wood that readily takes fire; touchwood; also, a kind of tinder made from a species of fungus; punk; amadou. --Sir T. Browne. 2. An inflammable temper; spirit; mettle; pluck; as, a man of spunk. [Colloq.] A lawless and dangerous set, men of spunk, and spirit, and power, both of mind and body. --Prof. Wilson.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

Spunk is courage. (INFORMAL) I admired her independence and her spunk. = guts [approval]

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

n. 1. Touchwood. 2. Punk, amadou, agaric, German tinder.

1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue

Rotten touchwood, or a kind of fungus prepared for tinder; figuratively, spirit, courage.

Moby Thesaurus

German tinder, adventuresomeness, adventurousness, aggression, aggressiveness, amadou, ambitiousness, backbone, bang, bottle, bottom, chutzpah, courage, dash, dauntlessness, doggedness, drive, dynamism, enterprise, enterprisingness, fire, force, forcefulness, gameness, get-up-and-get, get-up-and-go, getup, ginger, go, go-ahead, go-getting, go-to-itiveness, grit, gumption, guts, gutsiness, guttiness, heart, heart of oak, hustle, initiative, intestinal fortitude, kick, marrow, mettle, mettlesomeness, moxie, nerve, pep, pepper, piss and vinegar, pith, pizzazz, pluck, pluckiness, poop, punch, punk, push, pushfulness, pushiness, pushingness, pyrotechnic sponge, resolution, resolve, sand, snap, spirit, spunkiness, stamina, starch, stout heart, thrust, tinder, tinder fungus, tinderbox, touchwood, toughness, true grit, up-and-comingness, venturesomeness, venturousness, verve, vim, zing, zip