Meanings
- alternativeuncountableAlternative form of stump-water (“stagnant water from a hollow in a rotting tree stump”).
1 more example
"Say — what is dead cats good for, Huck?" "Good for? Cure warts with." "No! Is that so? I know something that's better." "I bet you don't. What is it?" "Why, spunk-water." "Spunk-water! I wouldn't give a dern for spunk-water." "You wouldn't, wouldn't you? D'you ever try it?" ... "Aha! Talk about trying to cure warts with spunk-water such a blame-fool way as that! Why, that ain't a-going to do any good. You got to go all by yourself, to the middle of the woods, where you know there's a spunk-water stump, and just as it's midnight you back up against the stump and jam your hand in and say..."
1876, Mark Twain, The adventures of Tom Sawyer, Chapter VI
Synonyms & antonyms
Origin
Regional variant of stump-water. Popularised by Mark Twain in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
spunk-water. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/spunk-water
“spunk-water.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/spunk-water. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “spunk-water,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/spunk-water.
Source: spunk-water on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.