skunk´like´

skunk´like´
skunk «skuhngk», noun, plural skunks or (collectively for 1) skunk, verb.
–n.
1. a black, bushy-tailed animal of North and South America, usually with white markings on the back and tail; polecat. It is a burrowing mammal about the size of a cat. When frightened or attacked, a skunk squirts a spray of liquid with a very strong, unpleasant smell from a pair of glands near its tail. There are several kinds of skunks. They belong to the same family as the weasel.
2. the fur of this animal, used especially in making coats.
3. Informal, Figurative. a mean, contemptible person: »

He must think me the most awful skunk (John Galsworthy).

–v.t.
U.S. Slang. to defeat utterly, as in an unequal contest where one side is held scoreless: »

He had got 292 votes in New Orleans, and had been skunked in only two parishes out of sixty-three (New Yorker).

╂[American English < Algonkian (probably Abnaki) seganku]
–skunk´like´, adjective.

Useful english dictionary. 2012.

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