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funk1

Syllabification: (funk)
Pronunciation: /fəNGk/

informal
Definition of funk

noun

  • 1 (also blue funk) [in singular] a state of depression:I sat absorbed in my own blue funk
  • chiefly British a state of great fear or panic:are you in a blue funk about running out of things to say?
  • 2 dated, chiefly British a coward.

verb

[with object] chiefly British
  • avoid (a task or thing) out of fear:I could have seen him this morning but I funked it

Origin:

mid 18th century (first recorded as slang at Oxford University in Oxford, England): perhaps from funk2 in the slang sense 'tobacco smoke,' or from obsolete Flemish fonck 'disturbance, agitation'

funk in other Oxford dictionaries

Definition of funk in the British & World English dictionary

Nearby words

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