- [countable] a small black and white North American animal that can produce a strong unpleasant smell to defend itself when it is attackedTopics Animalsc1
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- [uncountable] (slang) skunkweed (= a strong type of cannabis)
Word Originmid 17th cent.: from Abnaki segankw; variants occur in many other American Indian dialects. Abnaki is a group of two extinct Algonquian languages.
Idioms
See skunk in the Oxford Advanced American Dictionary(as) drunk as a skunk (North American English)
(British English, old-fashioned (as) drunk as a lord)
- (informal) very drunk
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skunk