Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A state of cowardly fright; a panic.
  • noun A state of severe depression.
  • noun A cowardly, fearful person.
  • intransitive verb To shrink from in fright or dread.
  • intransitive verb To be afraid of.
  • intransitive verb To shrink in fright.
  • noun A hearty or earthy quality appreciated in music such as jazz or soul.
  • noun A type of popular music combining elements of jazz, blues, and soul and characterized by syncopated rhythm and a heavy, repetitive bassline.
  • noun Slang An unsophisticated quality or atmosphere of a region or locality.
  • noun A strong, usually unpleasant smell; reek.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A strong and offensive smoky smell.
  • To stifle with offensive smoke or vapor.
  • noun Cowering fear; a shrinking panic or scare; a state of cowardly fright or terror.
  • noun One who funks, shrinks from, or avoids, or who is in a state of funk.
  • To kick behind, as a horse.
  • To get angry; take offense.
  • To kick; strike.
  • To shrink from or dread; be afraid of; back out from.
  • To smoke offensively, as a fire or chimney, with puffs or gusts.
  • To become afraid; shrink through fear; quail.
  • Cross; ill-tempered.
  • noun A spark.
  • noun Touchwood; punk.
  • noun A kick; a stroke.
  • noun Ill humor; anger; huff.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun colloq. A shrinking back through fear.
  • noun an earthy, seemingly unsophisticated style of jazz music having elements of black American blues and gospel.
  • noun Low An offensive smell; a stench.
  • noun colloq. One who funks; a shirk; a coward.
  • noun a state of fear.
  • noun a mildly depressed state of mind; -- often used in the phrase blue funk.
  • transitive verb obsolete To envelop with an offensive smell or smoke.
  • transitive verb colloq. To funk at; to flinch at; to shrink from (a thing or person).
  • transitive verb colloq. To frighten; to cause to flinch.
  • intransitive verb To emit an offensive smell; to stink.
  • intransitive verb colloq. To be frightened, and shrink back; to flinch.
  • intransitive verb [Colloq.] to back out in a cowardly fashion.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun obsolete spark
  • noun obsolete touchwood, punk, tinder
  • noun countable mental depression
  • noun uncountable A state of fear or panic, especially cowardly
  • verb To shrink from, or avoid something because of fear
  • noun countable Foul or unpleasant smell, especially body odour.
  • noun uncountable Music that combines traditional forms of black music (as blues, gospel, or soul) and is characterized by a strong backbeat.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a state of nervous depression
  • noun an earthy type of jazz combining it with blues and soul; has a heavy bass line that accentuates the first beat in the bar
  • noun United States biochemist (born in Poland) who showed that several diseases were caused by dietary deficiencies and who coined the term `vitamin' for the chemicals involved (1884-1967)
  • verb draw back, as with fear or pain

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Probably from obsolete Flemish fonck, disturbance, agitation, of unknown origin.]

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Back-formation from funky.]

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Probably ultimately from a northern French dialectal source such as Picard and Walloon funquer, to produce smoke, from Vulgar Latin *fūmicāre, alteration of Latin fūmigāre; see fumigate.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

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

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

1743, Scottish and Northern English dialectal word, originally a verb meaning "to panic, fail due to panic". Perhaps from or cognate with obsolete Dutch fonck ("distress, agitation"), from Middle Dutch fonck ("perturbation, agitation"). More at flunk.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

1620, from French dialectal (Norman) funquer, funquier ("to smoke, reek"), from Old Northern French fungier ("to smoke"), from Vulgar Latin fūmicāre, alteration of Latin fūmigāre ("to smoke, fumigate"). Related to French dialect funkière ("smoke"). More at fumigate.

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Examples

  • Q: Well, I definitely like raw funk from the '60s and the' 70s because music back then wasn't digital.

    Mike Ragogna: From DJ Heroes to Old Time Gospel: Conversations with Aaron Neville and DJ Qbert Mike Ragogna 2010

  • Q: Well, I definitely like raw funk from the '60s and the' 70s because music back then wasn't digital.

    Mike Ragogna: From DJ Heroes to Old Time Gospel: Conversations with Aaron Neville and DJ Qbert Mike Ragogna 2010

  • If you're keeping it traditional and not using Halloween as a three day extended party, you can get down on the actual holiday with the Latin funk of Pimps of Joytime and Nayas at Rock and Roll Hotel.

    Nightlife agenda David Malitz 2010

  • Apparently this blog funk is going around because for the first time ever I considered giving my blog a break.

    Getting The Funk Out | Her Bad Mother 2007

  • But isn't that a device like any other that we use, something to set the mood, to warn the reader that Harry's getting in a funk, is probably going to get drunk, bed his latest love, and get called out on a case at 2 in the morning?

    The 4th Dimension 2007

  • But isn't that a device like any other that we use, something to set the mood, to warn the reader that Harry's getting in a funk, is probably going to get drunk, bed his latest love, and get called out on a case at 2 in the morning?

    October 2007 2007

  • At the end of the day, the only way out of this funk is to force myself into the habit of concentrating on the jobs at hand.

    Whine and Cheeze moriarty6 2006

  • The 70's style, easy-going samba funk is wonderfully uplifting, but is made much more contemporary by the skratches, gritty electric keys and basslines, and a sound that clearly understands the important developments between that era and this one.

    as I look south (Music (For Robots)) 2005

  • The 70's style, easy-going samba funk is wonderfully uplifting, but is made much more contemporary by the skratches, gritty electric keys and basslines, and a sound that clearly understands the important developments between that era and this one.

    Music (For Robots): October 2005 Archives 2005

  • Williams put Diamondbacks hitters in a funk from the start.

    USATODAY.com - Cardinals gain split in the desert 2001

Comments

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  • "Milly, no sign of funk. Her blue scarf loose, laughing. Don't know what death is at that age."

    Joyce, Ulysses, 13

    January 14, 2007

  • From wikipedia, "Funk Carioca ("Funk from Rio" in Brazilian Portuguese), also known as Brazilian Funk (which also relates to a 1970's musical style), Favela Funk and, elsewhere in the world, Baile Funk, is a type of dance music from Rio de Janeiro, derived from and superficially similar to Miami Bass, with deep rapid beats and aggressive vocals. In Rio it is most often simply known as Funk, although it is very different musically from what Funk means in most other places — including Brazil itself."

    March 23, 2008

  • 'Now, says he, I know you are a moral citizen, George. Morality is mostly funk, and I think you're the funkiest man I ever came across in my travels.'

    - Conrad, The Partner

    March 5, 2009