different between spunk vs bravado

English

Etymology

1530, blend of spark +? funk (obsolete, “spark”). Also, merging with spunck, 1582, ultimately from Old Irish sponc, from Latin spongia (“sponge”).

Funk (“spark, touchwood”) is from Middle English funke, fonke (“spark”), from Old English *funce (“spark”), *fanca, from Proto-Germanic *funkô, *fankô (“spark”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)peng-, *(s)pheng- (“to shine”), and is akin to Middle Low German funke, fanke (“spark”), Middle Dutch vonke (“spark”), Old High German funcho, funko (“spark”), German Funke (“spark”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sp??k/
• Rhymes: -??k

Noun

spunk (usually uncountable, plural spunks)

1. (countable, obsolete) A spark.
2. (uncountable) Touchwood; tinder.
   • 1646, Thomas Browne, Pseudodoxia Epidemica, II.5:

     Spunk, or Touch-wood prepared, might perhaps make it Russet: and some, as Beringuccio affirmeth, have promised to make it Red.

   • 1665, Robert Hooke, Micrographia, XXII:

     A piece of Touch-wood (which is a kind of Jews-ear, or Mushrom, growing here in England also, on several sorts of Trees, such as Elders, Maples, Willows, &c. and is commonly call'd by the name of Spunk […]).

3. (countable, chiefly Scotland, obsolete) A piece of tinder, sometimes impregnated with sulphur; a match.
   • 1829, Society for Relief of the Destitute Sick (Edinburgh), Report, page 7,

     At present, her only means of procuring subsistence for herself and children, is by making spunks or matches, which, either she or her eldest child, a girl about six years of age, sells from door to door.

   • 1843, John Wilson, John Gibson Lockhart, William Maginn, James Hogg, The Noctes Ambrosianæ of “Blackwood”, Volume IV, page 396,

     “Spunks — spunks — spunks — who will buy my spunks?” — cried an errant voice with a beseeching earnestness […] .

4. (uncountable) Courage; spirit; mettle; determination.
   • 1920 August, Edward Leonard, Old Zeke?s Mule, Boys? Life, 55,

     “I reckon I?m as good as a mule,” he declared. “Maria knows what that desert is as well as we do, but she?s got more spunk than either of us. I'm not going to let any mule show more spunk than me.”

   • 1991, Lindsey Hanks, (copyright Linda Chesnutt, Georgia Pierce), Long Texas Night, Zebra Books, US, page 26,

     “You've got spunk, missy, I?ll have to say that for you. Maybe with your spunk and my good looks we can get this place in shape again.”

     It was Sarah?s turn to laugh.

   • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:spunk.
5. (countable, Britain, Australia, New Zealand, slang) An attractive person (normally male).

   Synonyms: Adonis, beefcake, hunk

   • 2005, Sue Austin, Women?s Aggressive Fantasies: A Post-Jungian Exploration of Self-Hatred, Love and Agency, Routledge, UK, page 166,

     We are welcomed by 20 year old spunks, as we make a last valiant attempt with our bodies - gasp, gasp - and try to get back in shape.

6. (uncountable, chiefly Britain, vulgar, slang) Semen.
   • 2007, Debra Hyde, Kidnapped, Violet Blue (editor), Lust: Erotic Fantasies for Women, 2010, ReadHowYouWant, page 188,

     It was runny stuff and, as she felt Brain loosen his hold on the drawstrings, Cackle's spunk dripped onto the shelf of her chin.

Derived terms

• spunky

Translations

Verb

spunk (third-person singular simple present spunks, present participle spunking, simple past and past participle spunked)

1. (intransitive, obsolete) To catch fire; flame up.
2. (slang, vulgar) To ejaculate.

Anagrams

• punks

English

Alternative forms

• bravade (obsolete)

Etymology

From French bravade (“bragging or boasting”), from Italian bravata, from verb bravare (“brag, boast”), from bravo.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /b????v??do?/, /br??v??do?/
• Rhymes: -??d??

Noun

bravado (countable and uncountable, plural bravados or bravadoes)

1. A swaggering show of defiance or courage.
   • 1990 Amy Longsdorf, K.T. Oslin: Personality, Wit and Style To Spare", The Morning Call[1]

     Songs like "Hey Bobby", and "Do Ya" drip with innuendo and sexual bravado.

   • Rosa Mulholland, The Haunted Organist of Hurly Burly

     For a bravado he had the organ taken down and conveyed to his father's house, where he had it put up in the chamber where it now stands. It was also for a bravado that he played on it every day. But, by?and?by, the amount of time which he spent at it daily began to increase rapidly.

2. A false show of courage. (Can we add an example for this sense?)
3. (obsolete) A swaggerer; a braggart.

Translations

Verb

bravado (third-person singular simple present bravados, present participle bravadoing, simple past and past participle bravadoed)

1. (obsolete, intransitive) To swagger; to brag.