funk

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   an earthy type of jazz combining it with blues and soul

   I love funk.

2. 2
   noun

   a state of nervous depression

   After a bad day, I was in a funk.

3. 3
   noun

   Foul or unpleasant smell, especially body odor.

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

4. 4
   verb

   To envelop with an offensive smell or smoke.

   He funks Basketia and her son to death

5. 5
   verb

   To 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.

6. 6
   verb

   Fuck (the taboo swear word).

   Funk this!

7. 7
   noun

   Mental depression.

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

8. 8
   noun

   A state of fear or panic, especially cowardly.

   [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 […]

Etymology

From Middle English funke, fonke (“spark”), from Old English *funca (“spark”), from Proto-Germanic *funkô (“spark”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)peng- (“to shine”). Cognate with Middle Low German funke, fanke (“spark”), Middle Dutch vonke (“spark”), Old High German funcho, funko (“spark”), German Funke (“spark”). See also spunk.