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skunk (n.)

1630s, squunck, from a southern New England Algonquian language (probably Abenaki) seganku, from Proto-Algonquian */šeka:kwa/, from */šek-/ "to urinate" + */-a:kw/ "fox." As an insult, attested from 1841. Skunk cabbage, which grows in moist ground in the U.S. and gives of a strong pungent odor when bruised, is attested from 1751; earlier was skunkweed (1738).

skunk (v.)

"to completely defeat (in a game), to shut out from scoring," 1831, from skunk (n.). Related: Skunked; skunking.

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Definitions of skunk from WordNet
1
skunk (n.)
a person who is deemed to be despicable or contemptible;
Synonyms: rotter / dirty dog / rat / stinker / stinkpot / bum / puke / crumb / lowlife / scum bag / so-and-so / git
skunk (n.)
a defeat in a game where one side fails to score;
Synonyms: shutout
skunk (n.)
street names for marijuana;
Synonyms: pot / grass / green goddess / dope / weed / gage / sess / sens / smoke / locoweed / Mary Jane
skunk (n.)
American musteline mammal typically ejecting an intensely malodorous fluid when startled; in some classifications put in a separate subfamily Mephitinae;
Synonyms: polecat / wood pussy
2
skunk (v.)
defeat by a lurch;
Synonyms: lurch
From wordnet.princeton.edu