Hello, you have come here looking for the meaning of the word punk. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word punk, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say punk in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word punk you have here. The definition of the word punk will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition ofpunk, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.
Uncertain. Possibly from punk("rotten wood dust used as tinder", attested since 1678; see Etymology 2 below) to anything worthless (attested since 1869) and then to any undesirable person (since 1908).
Flip [Lady Flippant]. I love, of my life men ſhould deal freely vvith me; there are ſo fevv men vvill deal freely with one— / Sir Sim[on Addlepot]. Are you not a Fireſhip? a Punk, Madam? / Flip. VVell, Sir, I love Raillery. / Sir Sim. Faith and troth I do not railly, I deal freely.
I know what you're thinking. "Did he fire six shots or only five?" Well, to tell you the truth, in all this excitement I've kinda lost track myself. But being as this is a .44 Magnum, the most powerful handgun in the world, and would blow your head clean off, you've got to ask yourself one question: Do I feel lucky? Well, do ya, punk?
Do you think a little thing like a scratch would bother me? I'm no punk.
2006, Kali James, Can U Get Away?, page 17:
Taking him home she hemmed him up soon as they stepped in the door. Now Tony was a bad dude in the streets but when it came to his mama, he was a punk. A few cuss words on her part had him spilling everything.
Who else... would have the nerve to actually begin a song with the line ‘Whatchew gonna do, mama, now that the roast beef's gone...?’ Man, that is true punk; that is so fucked up it's got class up the ass.
But I still felt a fraud. I was like all those people who suddenly shaved their heads and said they'd always been punks, they'd been punks before punk was even thought of […]
Babbitt boomed on: "Pretty punk service the Company giving us on these car-lines. Nonsense to only run the Portland Road cars once every seven minutes. Fellow gets mighty cold on a winter morning, waiting on a street corner with the wind nipping at his ankles."
With the subtleties of dressing ran other complex worries. "I feel kind of punk this morning," he said. "I think I had too much dinner last evening. You oughtn't to serve those heavy banana fritters."
You look very punk with your t-shirt, piercing, and chains.
2017 March 26, Rob Davies, “BrewDog accused of hypocrisy after forcing pub to change name”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:
BrewDog, the craft beer company that prides itself on a “punk” ethos, has been accused of acting like “just another multinational corporate machine” after forcing a family-run pub to change its name or face legal action.
Verb
punk (third-person singular simple presentpunks, present participlepunking, simple past and past participlepunked)
1934, James T. Farrell, chapter 19, in The Young Manhood of Studs Lonigan:
"Hell, Haggerty, with that caved-in chest you got, and with your guts pickled in alcohol, and a leg and a half in the grave, the Navy wouldn't even take you for punkin', Barney sourly said.
2022 April 30, @GisUsIsReal, Twitter:
If you start to stare at men's asses, to try & punk them in their moments with God; you are an enemy of God! Anyone looking upon a man as though a woman is in danger of judgement! -<><
(especially with "out") To give up or concede; to act like a wimp.
Jimmy was going to help me with the prank, but he punked (out) at the last minute.
(transitive, often with "out" or "up") To adapt or embellish in the style of the punk movement.
1992, Dana Stabenow, A Cold Day for Murder, →ISBN, page 60:
Suzy, a pump young woman with sparkling brown eyes and punked hair tucked behind her ears, said blankly, "What?"
2011, David Nichols, The Go-Betweens, →ISBN, page 60:
Like the Apartments, the supports hadn't written many songs of their own. They ran on that old standby, “fun,” in the form of “punked up” versions of pop songs like “It's my Party,” alongside obscure new wave/punk covers such as Lene Lovich's “Cuckoo Clock.”
2016, Michael Croland, Oy Oy Oy Gevalt! Jews and Punk: Jews and Punk, →ISBN, page 59:
Their raucous take on the beloved, iconic Israeli folk song allegedly drew the ire of the songwriter, Naomi Shemer, and inspired Yidcore to punk up Jewish culture in myriad ways over the course of the next decade.
Usage notes
The relatively tame 21st century usage of punk to mean "prank" was popularized by the American television show Punk'd. Until as recently as the late 20th century, punk still connoted rape or submitting to anal rape (punk out). The second use of the term punk-out is now comparable to acting like a pussy and mildly implies submissive behavior in general.
Unclear; first attested circa 1680 in writings about Native American practices, probably from Unamipunkw(“dust”), though it has also been suggested it could be an alteration of spunk(“tinder”) (compare funk(“rotten wood”)).
(uncountable) Any material used as tinder for lighting fires, such as agaric, dried wood, or touchwood, but especially wood altered by certain fungi.
1707, John Clayton (botanist), Virginia in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London XLI, page 149:
As the East-Indians use Moxa, so these burn with Punk, which is the inward Part of the Excrescence or Exuberance of an Oak.
1756, John Bartram, edited by William Darlington, Memorials of John Bartram and Humphry Marshall, published 1849:
If they attack a house that is pretty well manned, they [Indians in Pennsylvania] creep behind some fence, or hedge, or tree, and shoot red-hot iron slugs, or punk, into the roof, and fire the house […]
1899, H. B. Cushman, History of the Choctaw, Chickasaw and Natchez Indians, page 271:
On one occasion a venerable old Indian man, who, in order to light his pipe, was trying to catch a spark upon a piece of punk struck from his flint and steel; ...
1922, Harry Ignatius Marshall, The Karen People of Burma, page 61:
The oil is mixed with bits of dry wood or punk and moulded into sticks about a cubit long and an inch in diameter by putting it into joints of small bamboo.
2001, William W. Johnstone, War of the Mountain Man, page 116:
He made him a little smoldering pocket of punk to light the fuses and waited.
(countable) A utensil for lighting wicks or fuses (such as those of fireworks) resembling stick incense.
1907, Jack London, The Road:
On the end a coal of fire slowly smouldered. It would last for hours, and my cell-mate called it a "punk."
1994, Ashland Price, Viking Tempest, page 353:
Then, without another word, he rose and left the shelter, apparently in order to light the vessel's wick with a punk from the dying campfire.
2004, Shawn Shiflett, Hidden Place, page 221:
He raised the cylinder high in the air with his bare hand, used a punk to light the fuse, and KABOOM!
^ Robert K. Barnhart (editor), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology (H. W. Wilson, 1988), page 864: "Probably borrowed from Algonquian (Delaware) ponk, literally, living ashes."