skunk
noun /skʌŋk/
/skʌŋk/
(North American English also polecat)
Idioms - [countable] a small black and white North American animal that can produce a strong unpleasant smell to defend itself when it is attackedTopics Animalsc1
- [uncountable] (slang) skunkweed (= a strong type of cannabis)
Word Originmid 17th cent.: from Abnaki segankw; variants occur in many other American Indian dialects. Abnaki is a group of two extinct Algonquian languages.
Idioms
(as) drunk as a skunk (North American English)
(British English, old-fashioned (as) drunk as a lord)
- (informal) very drunk