funk

plural funks

1. countableFoul or unpleasant smell, especially body odor.

   The foulest stench is in the air; the funk of 40,000 years and grisly ghouls from every tomb are closing in to seal your doom.

   1982, “Thriller”, in Rod Temperton (lyrics), Quincy Jones (music), Thriller, performed by Michael Jackson (featuring Vincent Price), Epic Records

2. uncountableentertainmentA style of music derived from 1960s soul music, with elements of rock and other styles, characterized by a prominent bass guitar, dance-friendly sound, a strong emphasis on the downbeat, and much syncopation.

present singular third person funks · participle present funking · participle past funked · past funked

1. intransitiveTo emit an offensive smell; to stink.
2. transitiveTo envelop with an offensive smell or smoke.

   He funks Basketia and her son to death

   c. 1709, William King, The Furmentary

   1 more example

   Funking a cobbler – that is, blowing smoke into his stall; smoking cigars at divans and club houses; […]

   2012, M. C. Beaton, Diana the Huntress

3. intransitiveTo perform funk music.

   From the earliest part of this decade when he funked in relative obscurity to his days as a superstar with the release of his Batman soundtrack last summer, I could almost always count on Prince.

   1989 December 17, Christopher Wittke, “On The Edge In The '80s”, in Gay Community News, volume 17, number 23, page 9

4. euphemisticslangFuck (the taboo swear word).

   Funk this!

   2 more examples

   Snow bunny, I pledge to funk you baby / You sexy lady, my only temptation […] Oh, I just want to funk you

   2017, Bootsy Collins, “Snow Bunny”, in World Wide Funk

   Look, glittery tacos have their place. A date, business lunch, night out with besties, etc. But otherwise, paying almost 20 bucks for pizzazz between a few tortillas in Huntsville, funk that.

   2023 November 25, Matt Wake, “Five meals under $10 that I love from local Huntsville restaurants (and you will, too!)”, in The Huntsville Times, Huntsville, Ala., →ISSN, →OCLC

plural funks · alternative vaunk

1. obsoleteTouchwood, punk, tinder.

plural funks

1. countableMental depression.

   it helped me get out of a funk

   1 more example

   I've been in a funk lately, I fell into a funk, I slipped into a funk, I was stuck in a funk

2. uncountableA state of fear or panic, especially cowardly.

   1944 (written, first published in 2015), Bob Cooney, Proud Journey As I left the platform, the atmosphere was tense but there was no sign of uneasiness or funk […]

   3 more examples

   [The helmsman] steered with no end of a swagger while you were by; but if he lost sight of you, he became instantly the prey of an abject funk […]

   1899 March, Joseph Conrad, “The Heart of Darkness”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume CLXV, number MI, New York, N.Y.: The Leonard Scott Publishing Company, […], →OCLC, part II

   —A woful lunatic, Mulligan said. Were you in a funk?

   1922 February 2, James Joyce, “[Episode 1: Telemachus]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company […], →OCLC, part I [Telemachia], page 4

   Holmes was coming upstairs. Holmes would burst open the door. Holmes would say, “In a funk, eh?” Holmes would get him.

   1925 May 14, Virginia Woolf, Mrs. Dalloway, London: Leonard and Virginia Woolf at The Hogarth Press, →OCLC

3. countableOne who fears or panics; a coward.

   It is the long probation in the old way of teaching that fellows funk at or makes funks of them and their slow pace, almost up to the end of that probation, all who teach themselves are in a worse predicament as the hands with them are made the principle propellors instead of the feet.

   1875, The Art of Swimming in the Eton Style, The Art of Swimming in the Eton Style

present singular third person funks · participle present funking · participle past funked · past funked

1. ambitransitiveTo shrink from, or avoid something because of fear.

   He'll have funked it, when he comes to the edge, and sees nothing but mist below

   1857, Charles Kingsley, “(please specify the page)”, in Two Years Ago, volume (please specify |volume=I to III), Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Macmillan and Co., →OCLC

   2 more examples

   It is the long probation in the old way of teaching that fellows funk at or makes funks of them and their slow pace, almost up to the end of that probation, all who teach themselves are in a worse predicament as the hands with them are made the principle propellors instead of the feet.

   1875, The Art of Swimming in the Eton Style, The Art of Swimming in the Eton Style

   "Always wanted a go at the figure. Funked it. Shows what a man can do, given the right model. Dam' good model."

   1938, Norman Lindsay, Age of Consent, 1st Australian edition, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, published 1962, →OCLC, page 56

2. transitiveTo frighten; to cause to flinch.

plural Funks

1. A surname