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1743, Scottish and Northern English dialectal word, originally a verb meaning "to panic, fail due to panic". Perhaps from or cognate with obsolete Dutchfonck(“distress, agitation”), from Middle Dutchfonck(“perturbation, agitation”). More at flunk.
1875, The Art of Swimming in the Eton Style, The Art of Swimming in the Eton Style:
It is the long probation in the old way of teaching that fellows funk at or makes funks of them and their slow pace, almost up to the end of that probation, all who teach themselves are in a worse predicament as the hands with them are made the principle propellors instead of the feet.
1857, Charles Kingsley, “(please specify the page)”, in Two Years Ago, volumes (please specify |volume=I to III), Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Macmillan and Co., →OCLC:
He'll have funked it , when he comes to the edge , and sees nothing but mist below
1875, The Art of Swimming in the Eton Style, The Art of Swimming in the Eton Style:
It is the long probation in the old way of teaching that fellows funk at or makes funks of them and their slow pace, almost up to the end of that probation, all who teach themselves are in a worse predicament as the hands with them are made the principle propellors instead of the feet.
1938, Norman Lindsay, Age of Consent, 1st Australian edition, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, published 1962, →OCLC, page 56:
"Always wanted a go at the figure. Funked it. Shows what a man can do, given the right model. Dam' good model."
Russian: избега́ть(ru)impf(izbegátʹ)(to avoid), тру́сить(ru)impf(trúsitʹ)(to quail, to fear), дре́йфить(ru)impf(dréjfitʹ)(colloquial, to quail, to fear)
(the dialectal form): The ending -e in present tense is reduced in the negation form (while spoken). Hence the written form "funk itj" is used, when the standard spelling is "funkarikkje". Compare to phrases like "æårskitj" ("I do not bother").
W czołowym dzienniku polskojęzycznym uczą nas demokracji, tolerancji, europejskości synale wybitnych funków Komunistycznej Partii Polski, KPZU.
In the leading Polish-language daily, we are taught democracy, tolerance, and European-ness by the sons of prominent officials of the Communist Party of Poland, CPWU.
Usage notes
This word used primarily to refer to functionaries of former communist parties (especially the Communist Party of Poland), as well as organs of the communist state.