/spʌŋk/
Origin1530, blend of spark + funk (obsolete, “spark”).
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”).
- countable, obsolete, usuallyA spark.
“"[...] That's none such an entirely bad little man, yon little man with the red head," said Alan. "He has some spunks of decency."”
“He […] took from his waistcoatpocket a nickel tinderbox, sprang it open too, and, having lit his cigarette, held the flaming spunk towards Stephen in the shell of his hands.”
- uncountable, usuallyTouchwood; tinder.
“Spunk, or Touch-wood prepared, might perhaps make it Russet: and some, as Beringuccio affirmeth, have promised to make it Red.”
“A piece of Touch-wood (which is a kind of Jews-ear, or Mushrom, growing here in England also, on several sorts of Trees, such as Elders, Maples, Willows, &c. and is commonly call'd by the name of Spun”
- Scotland, countable, obsolete, usuallyA piece of tinder, sometimes impregnated with sulphur; a match.
“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 d”
““Spunks — spunks — spunks — who will buy my spunks?” — cried an errant voice with a beseeching earnestness[…].”
- uncountable, usuallyCourage; spirit; mettle; determination.
“1847, Anne Brontë, Agnes Grey, ch 17.
She showed me the letters of another individual, too, the unfortunate Mr. Green, who had not the courage, or, as she expressed it, the “spunk,” to plead his cause”
““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.””
“Douglas: You've got spunk. And balls. And I like that in a woman.”
- Australia, New-Zealand, UK, countable, slangAn attractive person; a good-looker.
“I got a transfer in my bank job and on the first day on the job in the big smoke I had to share a teller's box with a young lady called Kim, a real spunk and my future wife.”
“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.”
- intransitive, obsoleteTo catch fire; flame up.
Formsspunks(plural) · spunks(present, singular, third-person) · spunking(participle, present) · spunked(participle, past) · spunked(past)