different between skunk vs polecat

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sk??k/
• Rhymes: -??k

Etymology 1

From an unattested Southern New England Algonquian word, cognate with Abenaki segôgw, segonku (“he who squirts (musk) / urinates”), from Proto-Algonquian *šeka·kwa, from *šek- (“to urinate”).

Noun

skunk (plural skunks)

1. Any of various small mammals, of the family Mephitidae, native to North and Central America, having a glossy black with a white coat and two musk glands at the base of the tail for emitting a noxious smell as a defensive measure.
   • 1634, William Wood, New Englands Prospect:

     The bea?ts of offence be Squunckes, Ferrets, Foxes, who?e impudence ?ometimes drives them to the good wives Hen roo?t […]

2. (slang, derogatory) A despicable person.
3. (slang) A walkover victory in sports or board games, as when the opposing side is unable to score.

   Coordinate term: shutout

4. (cribbage) A win by 30 or more points. (A double skunk is 60 or more, a triple skunk 90 or more.)

Derived terms

• drunk as a skunk
• skunk at a garden party
• skunky

Descendants

• ? Czech: skunk
• ? Danish: skunk
• ? German: Skunk
• ? Finnish: skunkki
• ? French: skunks
• ? Icelandic: skunkur
• ? Japanese: ???? (sukanku)
• ? Norwegian: skunk
• ? Polish: skunks
• ? Russian: ????? (skuns)
• ? Slovak: skunk
• ? Swedish: skunk

Translations

Verb

skunk (third-person singular simple present skunks, present participle skunking, simple past and past participle skunked)

1. (transitive) To defeat so badly as to prevent any opposing points.

   I skunked him at cards.

   We fished all day but the lake skunked us.

2. (cribbage) To win by 30 or more points.
3. (intransitive, of beer) To go bad, to spoil.

See also

• Mephitis
• Spilogale
• Conepatus
• polecat

Etymology 2

Blend of skinhead +? punk, influenced by the animal (Etymology 1).

Noun

skunk (plural skunks)

1. A member of a hybrid skinhead and punk subculture.
   • 2006, Pam Nilan, Carles Feixa, Global Youth?: Hybrid Identities, Plural Worlds (page 192)

     In the early 1980s, certain ex-punks joined them, becoming 'skunks' – a hybrid subculture of skinheads and punks.

   • 2011, Gerard DeGroot (quoting Brown), Seventies Unplugged

     […] mods, skins, suedes, smoothies, punks, skunks, rude boys, soul boys and headbangers […]

Etymology 3

From skunkweed (“certain highly aromatic marijuana”)

Noun

skunk (countable and uncountable, plural skunks)

1. (slang) Clipping of skunkweed (marijuana).
2. Any of the strains of hybrids of Cannabis sativa and Cannabis indica that may have THC levels exceeding those of typical hashish.

Czech

Noun

skunk m

1. skunk (animal)

Further reading

• skunk in P?íru?ní slovník jazyka ?eského, 1935–1957
• skunk in Slovník spisovného jazyka ?eského, 1960–1971, 1989

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from English skunk.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sk??k/
• Hyphenation: skunk

Noun

skunk m (uncountable)

1. skunk, weed with a high level of THC

Swedish

Noun

skunk c

1. a skunk

Declension

English

Etymology

From Middle French pole (“hen”) + cat. Origin unknown, possible explanations include its fondness for poultry, or the Old English word fol, "foul", because of its smell. The same species was also known as folmart, "foul martin".

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?p??lkæt/

Noun

polecat (plural polecats)

1. A weasel-like animal of the genus Mustela.
   1. notably, the European polecat, Mustela putorius.
      • 1919, Ronald Firbank, Valmouth, Duckworth, hardback edition, page 61

        By the little garden pergola open to the winds some fluttered peacocks were blotted nervelessly amid the dripping trees, their heads sunk back beneath their wings: while in the pergola itself, like a fallen storm-cloud, lolled a negress, her levelled, polecat eyes semi-veiled by the nebulous alchemy of the rainbow.

      Synonyms: fitch, foumart

2. (US, dialects, including Appalachia) A skunk.
3. (television) A tubular device used to support lights on a set.
   • 1991, Gerald Millerson, The Technique of Lighting for Television and Film (page 323)

     This is adjustable telescopic tubing, wedged securely between floor and ceiling (vertical pole) or wall-to-wall (horizontal pole), within corridors, arches, window openings, doorways, etc. It may be held in position by a strong internal spring or end-screws. Designs include polecat, varipole, barricuda, jack tube, Acrow.

   • 2013, Alan Bermingham, Location Lighting for Television (page 196)

     This uses a battery-operated HMI/MSR 200 W rigged on a magic arm fastened to a vertical 'pole-cat'. Check that the car roof is suitable for this application and remember to include a clean card (beer mat) between the top of the pole-cat and the car roof!

Derived terms

Translations

Further reading

• polecat on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• colpate, pot lace