different between shanker vs spanker

English

Etymology 1

shank +? -er

Noun

shanker (plural shankers)

1. One who shanks (in any of various senses).
   1. One who shanks a golf ball.
      • 1975, Blackie Sherrod, Scattershooting:

        Littler said he didn't shank it; rather he called it a soft pop-up, but us old hard-core shankers weren't so generous .

      • 1993, Harvey Penick, Bud Shrake, Edwin Shrake, And If You Play Golf, You're My Friend: Further Reflections of a Grown Caddie, Simon and Schuster (?ISBN), page 57:

        He said, "Our whole club is full of shankers." […] This club was infested with shankers, as if they all had a disease. […] The danger in hitting down on the ball with such intensity is that you are likely to shank it.

      • 2006, Butch Harmon, The Pro: Lessons from My Father About Golf and Life, Crown (?ISBN)

        And for the next twenty minutes, he shanked every shot. I did everything I could. […] And he still shanked every shot. […] “Sooooo, Butchie's got a shanker and can't get him squared up, huh?” he shouted so loud that ..."

   2. One who glues the shank into a shoe.
      • 1913, Leon Carroll Marshall, Chester Whitney Wright, James Alfred Field, Materials for the Study of Elementary Economics, page 202:

        A shank-cutter cuts with a die that part of the shank which is composed of leather or leather board. […] A shanker tacks the shank in place, cuts away the superfluous upper leather gathered under the toe, beats the edge of the upper out […]

      • 1986 March 6, "Factory Work" [Poetry, 147], quoted in 2009, Deborah Boe, The Girl of the Early Race: Poems, Gegensatz Press (?ISBN):

        I take those metal shanks, slide the backs of them in glue and make them lie down on the shoe-bottoms, […] Last week they ran a contest to see which shankers shanked fastest. I'm not embarrassed to say I beat them all.

Etymology 2

Noun

shanker (plural shankers)

1. Obsolete form of chancre.

References

• shanker in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.

Anagrams

• hankers, harkens

English

Etymology

spank +? -er

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /spæ?k?/
• (US, Canada) IPA^(key): /spæ?k?/
• Rhymes: -æ?k?(?)

Noun

spanker (plural spankers)

1. Someone who spanks.
2. An instrument used to give someone a spanking or spank, such as a paddle.
3. (nautical) A fore-and-aft gaff-rigged sail on the aft-most mast of a square-rigged vessel.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Totten to this entry?)

4. (dated, music) A musician who plays his instrument well.
5. (obsolete, Britain, dialect) A small coin.
   • 1772, The Town and Country Magazine (volume 4, page 344)

     Egad, Jack, I am glad to see you, for I want a few spankers.

6. (dated) One who takes long, quick strides in walking.
7. (dated) A swift horse.
8. (dated, slang) Something very large, or larger than usual; a whopper.
9. (dated, slang) Something splendid; a fine example of its kind.
   • 2015, Alan Bennett, The Lady in the Van

     I like the new vehicle. A real spanker. Not a mark on it. Particularly as regards the bodywork.

   • 2002, Catherine Cookson, The Silent Lady

     Well, you would say […] you didn't know what kind of carpet it was. It could be from Timbuktu or John O'Groats or anywhere else. But Dixon seems to know his stuff, and he said it's a spanker and that he would've had it himself, only it's too big for his front room.

Synonyms

• (gaff-rigged sail): blooper, tallboy

Derived terms

• plank spanker

Translations

Anagrams

• sparken