funk Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun a state of nervous depression
    blue funk.
    • he was in a funk
  2. 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)
    Casimir Funk.
  3. 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
  4. verb draw back, as with fear or pain
    squinch; flinch; recoil; wince; quail; cringe; shrink.
    • she flinched when they showed the slaughtering of the calf

WordNet

Funk noun
Etymology
OE. funke a little fire; akin to Prov. E. funk touchwood, G. funke spark, and perh. to Goth. fn fire.
Definitions
  1. An offensive smell; a stench. Low
Funk transitive verb
Definitions
  1. To envelop with an offensive smell or smoke. Obs. King.
Funk intransitive verb
Definitions
  1. To emit an offensive smell; to stink.
  2. To be frightened, and shrink back; to flinch; as, to funk at the edge of a precipice. Colloq. C. Kingsley.
    To funk right out o' political strife. Lowell (Biglow Papers).
Funk, Funk"ing noun (Also<
  • Funk
  • Funking
)
Definitions
  1. A shrinking back through fear. Colloq. "The horrid panic, or funk (as the men of Eton call it)." De Quincey.

Webster 1913